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THE

aifOKATBD BT TKOIiriON AMB mOBINMH, TOmOMTO.

COUNT DE MOKTALEMBEBT.

J the appeared <U the Slate Froteeution in Pari; iith November^ 1868.

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LOVEl

THE BRILLIANT FRENCH ESSAYIST'S

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Srtat sttr r|ni« u larlmtnt Jtuglaw,

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THE CELEBRATED

ESSAY OK ENGLAND

AND HER

COLONIAL POLICY.

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member, IB6S,

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BT

COUNT DE MONTALEMBERT,

OBIGIVAILT FUBLI8EED IN THE " COBBEBFOlTDAirT BBTXrE," UKDEB THB TITLB
07 "VS DBBAT BUB L'INDE A17 FABLBXBNT AXfLAIB," AND FOB WHICH
THB AVIHOB HAS BEEN FBOSBCrTTBD BT THB ' li^'^BOB NAPOLEON III.

With Portrait and Biographical Sketch; also a full account of tht State
Prosecution of the diftinguithed Etaayi9t.

QToronto :

LOVELL k GIBSON, AND W. 0. F. CAVERHILL^ YONGE ST,
MONTREAL: JOHN LOVELL, CANADA DIKBCTORT OFFICE.

1868.
iCheap Camidian Edition. Pr»c« 15 cm»<«.]

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IBT.

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PREFACE.

3Y THE CANADIAN EDITOIt. ,

The profound sensation which has followed the publication in
France of Montalembert's noble Essay on the Colonial
Policy of England, induces us to prepare and issue in this form
a cheap Canadian Edition of his eloquent eulogy on the British
freedom which, as Colonists, we so fully enjoy.

The trial of this distinguished writer, which has just termi-
nated adversely to him, has rendered his essay " the talk of all
Europe," and has called forth, from the principal London
papers, a series of those pungent and powerful " leaders " for
which the English newspaper press is famous.

The circumstances which led to the publication of this
memorable essay, together with an admirable synopsis of its
contents, are thus briefly given in the London Times, on first
publishing the essay in an English dress : — ' ' ' n ^ ^

" H. de Montalembert has long been known in Europe * * * as the
champion of the Oatholio Church of France, an upholder of the Gallic
liberties, and also a lover of eonstitutional forms, and a humble admirer of
eivil liberty. This faith and these tastes are acting under some discourage-
ment just now in Paris, and M. de Montalembert has often sought a more
free enjoyment of them on this side the Channel. * * * In one of his
recent visits to this country, this eminent Roman Catholic was present at a
debate upon the filutinies in India. ' I issued,' he sud, * from that grand
spectacle deeply moved and satisfied. I felt myself more than ever
attached to the liberal convictions and hopes which have always animated,
amid the saddest phases of our history, that teUet band of honest men
whom deceptions and defeats have never disheartened, and who, even in
exile, even on the scaffold, have cherished patriotism enough to believe
that France could, as well as England, support the reign of law, of intelli'
gence, and of liberty.' • • « Montalembert went back to his own
cou try excited by shame and indignation ; and he wrote the eloquent and
passionate eulogy of English freedom, and the fierce denunciation of the
writers who had gloried in English disasters. * * * The article which
he wrote occupies sixty-eight pages of the periodical in which it appeared,
and its language it a ttream of unpaiuing eloquence. He celebrates all
the great results which the institutions of this country have brought

^1

4

to paB8 — ber conqaeat of the Indies, hor colonization of the West,
her creation of first-rate Powers, mature in the United States, rerging
upon manhood in Canada, and growing in Australia. * * * He
passes on to celebrate the liberty of our press, and to show how
innocuous even literary licentiousness becomes when all men can read,
compare, and think. * * * He then rushes on from these discussions,
and involves himself in the facts and victories of our Indian campaigns,
***** and speaks of the English as a ' great people, who can and who
desire to conduct their own affairs, whom nothing discourages or (Hghtens
—who are sometimes deceived, but who do not drive to extremity men or
things ; who, in fact, know how to arrange and repair all, without being
obliged to put themselves under tutelage, or to seek for safety eUewhere
than in their own manly and intelligent energy/ Towards the end of his
remarkable composition, Montalembert gives solemn warning that the
feeling Ib common in Europe, that ' la came qn*on aime eat def endue par la
naiioH qu'on n'aime pa$' Montalembert hastens to say that he loves
England almost as much as the liberty she cherishes, but adds — ' V Europe
me aenible bien plua a eraindre pour tile que FAtie.' It is to be noted that
this warning, more signifioant than many a phrase that required some
torturing to bear on France, has not been made a point in the prosecution.*'

As indicated by the author, we have divided the Essay into
eight Chapters and inserted index headings to the more impor-
tant paragraphs. AVe have also supplied all the passages of the
speeches quoted hy the author, which were omitted in the Eng-
lish version of The Times. These improvements and additions
will render the perusal of this hrilliant Essay more satisfactory
and agreeahle to the reader.

A very full and complete account of the state prosecution which
followed the publication of the Essay is appended herewith. We
have also prefixed to the Essay a brief biographical Sketch of the
career of this eminent Frenchman, and have illustrated it with an
engraved portrait, copied from an excellent likeness of him lately
published in the Illustrated London News.

We sincerely hope that the puhlication of a Canadian
edition of this admirable Essay on the Colonial Policy
of England will not only prove successful, hut will also
show how sincerely we sympathise with the gifted and chival-
rous author in his nohle protest against, and firm resistance to,
the repressive tyranny which characterizes the present regime in
France.

CONTENTS.

it

Portrait (facing Titl« Page.) pioi

Preface r

Biograpliioal Sketch of MoDtalembert, Berryer, and Dufaure 0

CHAPTER I.
Introductory 15

CHAPTER II.
The Colonial Policy of England vindicated 11

CHAPTER III,
The English and Continental Press— British Rule in India 28

CHAPTER rv.
Events which led to the Fall of Lord Palmerston 84

CHAPTER V.

The Oreat Debate on India: (I) la the House of Lords, 14th May,
1868; (2) In the House of Commons, 14th-21st May, 1868.... 42

CHAPTER VL
The "Derby Day" on Epsom Downs 61

CHAPTER VII.
Close of the Oreat Debate 64

CHAPTER VIIL

Efibot of the Debate in England and India— The Present State of
England — Her loss of Prestige — Danger to Liberty OS

State Prosecution of Count de Montalembert by the Emperor Napo*
leonlll 70

•;l

*«* Index Headings are prefixed to the more important

paragraphs.

i

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

07 THE CABEBB 07

COUNT DE MONTALEMBERT.

This chivalrous nobleman, and independent thinker, writer, and
orator, is the son of Marc-B,en6-Aim6-Marie de Montalembert,
formerly Colonel under Louis XVIII., then a Minister at Stutt-
gard — a gentleman who was created, in 1819, a Peer of France,
and who held for some time the post of Ambassador from
the Court of Charles X. to the Court of Stockholm. He is the head
and representative of one of the most illustrious families of Poitou,
whose ancestors took part in the crusade of St. Louis in 1249, and
who are distinguished as having given birth to Andre de Montalem-
bert, Lord of Est^, who commanded the French army in Scotland
during the minority of the un^rtunate Mary Queen of Scots, and
who was killed on the breach of Terouanne in the defence of that city
against the Emperor Charles V., in 1553. His mother was of Eng-
lish, or rather, we should say, of Scottish, extraction, and is said to
have been a lady of strong character and remarkable ability.

Charles Forbes de Montalembert is the eldest child of this mar-
riage. He was bom on the 10th of March, 1810, in Paris — and
spent a considerable portion of his youth in England and in Sweden.
He was also for some years a student at the University of Paris.

When he was little more than nineteen years of age he was
brought into contact, and, we believe, into intimacy, with M. Guizot,
by a brochiu'e which he published upon the political and social rela*
tions of Sweden, as we are informed by an interesting passage in the
reply of the latter distinguished orator and statesman upon the re-
ception of Montalembert into the Academy of France.

At the outset of his career he was an advocate of the union of
Catholicism and Democracy, and was a pupil of the School which
regarded the Abbd Lameunais as its apostle and foimder, and acted

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10

as one of the editors of the VAvenir^ a journal started for the
express purpose of advocating that union. He subsequently entered
on a sort of crusade against the University ; and it is in connection
with this eute«^rize that his name first became publicly known as a
*'man of mark," and a man, not of virords only, but of deeds.
Under the recent Charter, which guaranteed full liberty of public
instruction, he joined with M. de Coux and the Abbe Lacordaire in
opening and establishing in Paris a Free School for Public Instruction,
denominated the Ecole Libre. Their opposition, however, to the
existing Powers, brought them before the Police Correctionnelle
who oidered the school to be closed. The death of his father, which
had happened a short time previously, — and which, we may here note,
was remarkable as being the last instance of an accession to a he<
reditary title in France, — ^had given him a seat in the Chamber of
Peers, before whom he claimed the right of having the question
tried. The cause came on in due form, and, although on this occa«
sion he made his first speech, and pleaded the cause of education
with extraordinary eloquence, he had the mortification of finding
himself sentenced to pay a fine of 1000 francs, in accordance with the
letter of a decree made by the Emperor Napoleon I. The young
Count's speech made a great sensation at the time, and may be said
to have inaugurated his public career, though, not having attained
the legal age of thirty years, he was iwable to t^Uie liis seat in the
Upper Chamber until 1840.

The condemnation of the Abb^ Lameimais by the late Pope told
strongly on the religious views of the Count, who during the next
ten years gained a considerable literary reputation as a champion of
CathoUcism. During this period he published his ''Life of St.
Elizabeth of Hungary " (1836), which was followed by a treatise on
«Medi8eval Art," and by another on the "Life and Times of St.
Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury." In 1842, he strongly opposed
the educational measure of M. Yillemain, and in the following year
lie published his " Catholic Manifesto."

In 1845 the Count de Montalembert again threw himself addyely
into the debates in the Chamber of Peers, in which he delivered
come masterly speeches on such general subjects as popular instruo*
tion and education, the liberty of the Church, the afiairs of Poland
(in which he has always taken the deepest interest), as well as on the
fMreservation of Belgian nationality against the encroachments of
BuBsian influence in the East, and in favour of negro emancipation
throughout the French colonies.

for the
entered
inection
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ere note,
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as on the
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11

In 1843 he married a daughter of the Count de M erode, a Belgian
Minister ; and while staying at Madeira for the benefit of his wife's
health, he in that year published his celebrated '< Letter to the
Oambridge Camden Society " (who had paid him the compliment of
electing him an honorary member), designed by him to disprove the
ambitious pretensions ')f that society in seeking to identify the Pro-
testant and Reformed Church of England with the Church of the
Middle Ages and of Continental Europe. About the same time he
gave to the world his treatise " Du devoir des Catholiques dans la
Question de la Libert^ d'Enseignement," which became the signal of
the decisive struggle carried on by the French Catholics in favour of
religious freedom during the latter years of the reign of Louis Phi-
lippe.

Returning to France, he delivered in the Chamber of Peers his
three celebrated speeches on the liberty of the Church, the liberty of
education, and the liberty of the monastic orders. In 1847 he estab-
lished a religious education to work in favour of the Sonderbund,
From that date to the present the Count has stood forward as the
most zealous champion of the rights of the Roman Catholic Church
in France, which he has maintained at once by his powerful pen and
his almost more powerful oratory. At the same time he made his
influence widely felt as the firm champion of oppressed nationalities,
in which spirit, we presume, he acted when on the 10th of February,
1848, he had celebrated in Notre Dame a funeral service to the
memory of Daniel O'Connell.

In January, 1848, he delivered his celebrated speech upon the
affairs of Switzerland, in which he plainly foretold the revolutions
which broke out in the several nations of Continental Europe in the
following month. After the revolution of February 1848, and the
establishment of the Republic, Count de Montalembert was elected
to the National Assembly, as one of the representatives of the de-
partment of Doubs, in which he possessed some private property.
From the National Assembly, he passed into the Legislative Assem-
bly. He there distinguished himself principally by the part he took
in preparing the law to restrain the suffrage within narrower limits,
by his frequent encounter with M. Victor Hugo, his only rival in
oratory, and by his defence of the President. In both places he
stood, together with M. Thiers and M. de Falloux, M. Berryer, and
the late lamented Count Mol^, as the head of the Conservative party
and defeated the Socialists on most of the important political and
financial questions of the day. Many of his speeches, and more par-

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12

ticularly that which related to the conditions on which the Papal au-
thority was to be re-established by the French in Rome (October 19,
1849), elicited the greatest applause from an audience which could
not always sympathise with all his views. When the coup d'Hat came
he protested strongly against the imprisonment of ttie Deputies ; but
he nevertheless was named a member of the Consultative Commis-
sion, a distinction he declined, and was elected in 1852 to the
Corps Legislatif. As a French biographer laconically but happily
expresses it, " ii! y reprisentait preaqtie seul VOpposition." After the
coup (Tetat of December, 1851, and the confiscation of the patrimo-
nial estates of the house of Orleans, the Count, who till then had
sided with Louis Napoleon, declared against him; and having been
re-elected a member of the Corps Legislatif, from 1852 to 1857 he
was the only member of that body who protested on every occasion
against the Imperial policy. A letter from the Count, addressed to
M. Dupin, and published in the Belgian papers, gave rise to
judicial proceedings against him in 1854 ; but although the Corps
Legislatif had approved of his impeachment, the Judges of the Tri-
bunal of Paris, did not find sufficient cause to condemn him, and
at the last general election he lost his seat.

Coimt de Montalembert's name has been made more generally
known in England — ^next, of course, to the recent prosecution — ^by
his Essay on " Catholic Interests in the Nineteenth Century," and
on the " Political Future of England." The former of thiBse
publications gives a rapid and brilliant review of Catholicism
throughout the whole of Europe in the present day as compared
with what it was some fifty years ago, maintaining that, on the
whole, that progress has been deep, sound, and likely to show per-
manent results. In the same work he expresses himself strongly on
the political changes that had taken place in France, and on the
language of the French press in their regard. The object of the
latter work is to show that the future prospects of England are
identical with those of freedom throughout the world ; and this
leading idea he pursues through an infinity of digressions and
speculations, interspersed with various particulars of English life, as
exhibited in its schools, its journalism, and its political institutions.
These two works have been translated into English, and were publish-
ed in 1853 and 1856. He has since republished several articles from
the CorrespoTidant, one entitled "Pie IX et Lord Palmerston," and
the other "La Paix et la Patrie," and a third on the " Memoirs of
the due de St. Simo^." After his electoral defeat in 1857, the French

IS

Academy, to which he waa elected in 1850, chose him as its Director.
In this capacity he had to preside at the annual meeting of the
Institut de France, on which occasion he delivered his last speech on
the decline of intellectual and moral life under the present autocratic
rggime. ■ • . , i

Sir John Scott Lillie says, in a recent publication, that Count de
Montalembert, although a peer of France and a French subject, ha«
certain claims on England, being not only the son of a British lady,
but of a British officer. Sir John adds — **To this fact I can bear
testimony : as, after the battle of Vimiera and capture of Lisbon,
in 1808, the father of the Count (one of the old French noblesse
refugees exiled by the first Napoleon) accompanied, as deputy-
quarter-master general, the 6th regiment, in which I then served, on
its march through Portugal to Almeida, a garrison on the Spanish
frontier, then occupied by French troops, which we removed to
Oporto for embarkation, imder the treaty of Cintra. Major Monta-
lembert then proceeded with the British army to Coninna, where,
after sharing in the glories of that battle against what he considered
the Imperial usurpation of that time, he returned to England."

The article of the Count lately published in the Correspondant,
entitled "A Debate on the Indian Mutiny," has called down upon
him the terrors of a prosecution by the French Government, of
which we have given an account at the close of this famous essay,
pages 70-80.

The Portrait on a preceding page, which has been engraved in
Toronto, is from a Photograph by Messrs. MauU and Polyblank, of
London, to whom the Count sat when he was in England in July last.

'■ \

■h

M. BERRYER, COUNSEL OP COUNT DE MONTALEMBERT.

M. Berryer, who is universally acknowledged as the head of the
French bar, was bom 1790 ; he achieved great professional success
at an early period of his career, and, after the restoration of the
Bourbons, in 1815, occupied a political position of increasing promi-
nence. He was always a Legitimist, ardent and \mflinching, but
during the government of the restoration he generally exerted hia^
influence in favor of the moderate prxty. To the government of
July he was a bitter enemy ; but both ia the Chamber of Deputies,

14

when he sat for the Department of Haute Loire, and at the bar, he
always united a certain love of liberiy with a strong affection for the
elder branch of the Bourbons. Hia three celebrated forensio
speeches in favor of Lamennais (1826), Chateaubriand (1833), and
Louis Napoleon (1840), not only placed him without a rival as an
advocate, but indicated that he shared the ideas but not the narrow-
ness of the Legitimists. After 1848, he for some time supported the
President in tl^e National Assembly, until he saw the cause of free-
dom was at stake, and he then took a very active part against Louis
Napoleon, until the coup d'etat drove him from political life alto-
gether.

M. DUFAURE, COUNSEL FOR THE PUBLISHER OF THE
CORRESPONDANT REVUE.

M. Dufaiu'e, bom in 1798, was known in early life as a leader of
the Bordeaux bar. In 1834, he entered the Chamber of Deputies,
to which he was elected by the arrondissement of Saintes. He was
a moderate Liberal, and his legal reputation and great practical abi-
lity soon opened to him the path to office. He was Minister of
Public Works, in the Soult Cabinet, but after the accession of Thiers*
ministry he was in opposition, and remained so during the remainder
of the parliamentary period. He was a Minister of the Interior
under General Cavaignac, and although he had striven hard to se-
cure Cavaigiiac's election as President, he accepted the same office
under Louis Napoleon. After the coup d'etat had excluded him from
public life, he joined the Paris bar, and has since had, as a practising
advocate, an increasing reputation of a very high kind.

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A DEBATE ON INDIA

IN THE

ENGLISH PARLIAMENT.

1h

In (Sigl)! Cl)a|iters.

CHAPTER I.— Introductory.

1. Montalemherfs Ennui. — Longs to breathe the free air of England.

There are ill-constituted minds for which repose and science are
not the supreme good. There are people who experience from time
to time, a want to quit the tranquil uniformity of their ordinary
existence. There are soldiers who, conquered, woimded, in chains,
condemned to a fatal inaction, console themselves and become invi-
gorated at the sight of the struggles and dangers of others. It is
not that they find any attraction in the vile and wretched sentiment
of secure selfishness portrayed in the famous lines of Lucretitis, —
" Suave mari mngno tarbantibus cequora ventie,
" E terra magnum alterius spectare laborem.
" Suave etiam belli eertamina magna tueri
" Per campos instructa tuasine parte pericli."

[It is delightful, when the storms are tossing the waters over the
vast deep, to gaze from land upon another's sore distress (whilst you
are yourself at ease). DeUghtful also, to look upon the glorious
game of war played out on battle fields without your participation
in the danger. ]

No, it is a purer and higher motive ; it is the eflfort of the unarm-
ed gladiator, an interested spectator of the arena where he is not
destined again to figure, who applauds the exploits of his happier
rivalS) and encourages the combatants with a sympathetic cheer,
drowned, but not altogether lost, amid the enthusiastic cries of the
interested spectators.

I ciindidly confess that I may be classed in the number of such
men, and I will add thai I have found a remedy for this disease
from wlkich it is so little admitted that people suffer just now. When
I ieeA. myself attacked by the m«lady, when my ears tingle, now with
the biizziiBg of the newsmongers of the antechambers, and again with
the din of fanatics who fancy themselves our masters, and of hypoi-
orirtes who think us their dnpe8,«-^wheh I mu stifling in an atmospheora
loaded with the exhalations of lerrility and corruption, I set forth
to breaitibe a purer air, and to take a ufe-bath {bain de vie) in £m»

: :

t :

k

16

«

2. Time chosen to do so. — Satirical contrasts and Reflections.

The last time that I availed myself of this relief fortune favored
me ; I was thrown into the midst of one of those great and glorious
struggles in which we see brought into play all the resources of the
inteUigence and all the emotions of the conscience of a great people,
where the greatest problems that can interest a nation out of its
minority are solved in open day by the intervention of the greatest
minds ; when men and things, parties and individuals, orators and
writers, the possessors of power, and the organs of opinion, are called
npon to reproduce, in the midst of a new Home, the picture drawn
iby a Roman of the olden time under the influence of the emotions
of the Forum : —

•' Certare ingenio, contendere nobilltate,

" Noctes atque dies niti prceaCante labore,

" Ad summos emergere opes rerumque potiri."

[To compete in strength of intellect, to vie in dignity of descent,
night and day to strive with unremitting exertion to rise to the
;pinnacle of power, and to attain the mastery.]

At these words I see certain brows darken, and behold traced upon
them the repugnance with which all that may seem a remembrance
or a regret of political life inspires the votaries c f the fashion of the
day. If, among them who have opened those pages there should be
some who are the slaves of that fashion, I say to them without cere-
mony— ' ' Stay where you are ; do not go any further. Not a particle
of what I am about to write can prove agreeable or interesting to
you. Go, — ruminate in peace amid the rich pastures of your thrice
happy retirement, and do not envy the right of those who envy you
in nothing to remain faithful to their past, to the solicitudes of the
intellect, and the aspirations for liberty."

Every one is happy after his own fashion ; people must be in a
way, I cannot say of understanding one another, but, at least, of
not disputing with each other, when they have no longer any incen-
tive to ambition or affection in common, and when they do not agree
in opinion with respect either to happiness or honor.

I grant, besides, that there is nothing, absolutely nothing, in the
nature of the institutions or of the political personages of our time
which can resemble the men and things forming the subject of this
rapid sketch. It will be understood, as a matter of course, that I
do not in any way pretend to convert those progressive minds who
consider that Parliamentary Government has been advantageously
replaced by universal suffrage, or those politicians of the Optimist
school who assert that the crowning victory of democracy consists in
handing over to a sole Sovereign the exclusive direction of the foreign
and domestic- affairs of a nation. I write for my own satisfaction,
and for that of a small niunber of invalids, of prying curious people,
—of maniacs, if you will have it so, like myself. I study contem-
porary institutions which are ho longer oiurs, but which once have
been, and which still seem worthy of admiration and of envy to my
mind, behind hand as it is. Might not the sympathy and attention
which men of high talents have awakened in favor of the fine ladies

17

'turns.

le favored
d glorious
ces of the
at people,
3ut of its
greatest
cators and
are called
ire drawn
emotions

f descent,
se to the

teed upon
embrance
an of the
should be
tout cere-
a particle
•esting to
)urtlmce
envy you
les of the

t be in a

least, of

my incen-

lot agree

g, in the
our time
tof this
e, that I
inds who
ageously
Dptimist
nsists in
e foreign
sfaction,
I people,
contem-
icehave
y tomy
ttention
le ladies

of the Fronde, of the equivocal personages of the great rebellion of
England, or of the obscure and sterile agitations of our ancient com-
munes, bo sometimes directed towards the deeds of a nation which
lives and moves in its strength and its greatness at seven leagues
from our northern shores ? I do think that they might, and, what
is more, I imagine that this study of foreign statistics, or, to speak
more correctly, of contemporary archoeology, may prove as agreeable
in our leisure hours as a commentary on the comedies of Plautus,
or a narrative of the exploration of the source of the Nilo.

CHAPTER II.— Thb Colonial Policy op England Vindicatbd.

3. Effect of the India Mutiny on MontalemherVa mind. — Profound
sympathy with Ewjland, heightened by the 'Hnhuman ftiry" of the
CorUinental Press, Monarchical and Democratic. — Honorable Ex-
ceptions.— England the "invirtcifeie bulwark" of liberty.

At the end of last spring the state of Hindostan, and the issue
of the insurrection which hod for a whole year been raging in the
northern provinces of that extensive region, still formed the principal
subject of attention in England. How coidd it have been otherwise ?
As for me, I was astonished and alarmed that the English people, after
the consternation and anger of the first few months, had so speedily
abandoned itself, not, certainly, to a criminal carelessness, but to a
premature confidence in the issue of the struggle. I felt desirous to
discover, in the society of the most competent judges, the true
causes for the insurrection, as well as the means which were intended
to be employed in order to triumph finally over a danger so formidable,
so little foreseen, and aggravated to such a pitch by threatening com-
plications which from day to day might appear on the stage of
European politics. I ofifered in that investigation an ardent and
profound sympathy towards the great, free, and Christian nation
from which God exacted so terrible a trial ; and I felt that sympathy
redoubled in presence of the inhuman fury of so many of the organs
of the continental press, and, unfortunately, of the soi-disant Con-
servative and religious journals against the victims of the Bengal
massacres. I should have wished to inform every individual English-
man whom I met that I had no connection whatever with the parties
whose journals applauded and justified the cut-throats, and whose
earnest vows are still daily offered up for the triumph of the Mussul-
man and Pagan hordes over the heroic soldiers of a Christian people
— the ally of France.

I felt, besides, what every intelligent liberal feels and hi^ows, that
the attitude of the Continental press with respect to the Indian
question demonstrates once again the great fact which constitutes
the immortal honor of contemporary England. All the apologistks
of absolutism, whether ancient or modem, monarchical or democratic,
take part against her ; with her, on the contrary, are to be seen all
those who still remain faithful to that regulated liberty of which she
was the cradle, and is, to this hour, the invincible bulwark. That is

I

t:

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18

but natural and ri^ht ; moroovor, it suffices to cause us to overlook,
in the present policy of England, certain sympathies which may be
more easily accounted for than justified, and to pardon her some
wrong which, under another state of things, would call for the seve-
rest reprobation.

4. Lord Palmerston^s devious Policy previous to 1848 hut little cen-
surable.— English and French foreign Policy compared. — Thiers.—
Destruction of Venice, — Amhuscade of Bayonne.

I may boldly affirm that no one knows better, that no one has more
loudly signalised, than I, the backslidings and deviations of English
policy during the last few years. I was certainly the first to de-
nounce, previously to 1848, the policy of Lord Palmerston, lut too
often imperious towards the weak and truckling to the strong, in
the highest degree imprudent, illogical, and foreign to all the great tra-
ditions of his country. But, in fact, when we read the wretched in-
vectives of the Anglophobes of our day, when we compare with their
complaints against England the ideas which they emit and the systems
which they laud, we feel involuntarily inclined to be indulgent to-
wards Lord Palmerston. It would be, besides, the height of folly
and of iniquity to regard England as solely culpable, among the
nations of the earth. Her policy is neither more selfish nor more
immoral than that of other great States which figure in ancient or
modern history. I even believe that it would be possible to demon-
strate a thesis of an altogether contrary character. It is not charity
but strict justice which begins at home, and, under this head, no
French publicist has the right to stigmatize the policy of England
before having passed judgment on the political crimes of France
during the Revolution and the Empire, not as set forth by adverse
witnesses, but such as their apologists — M. Thiers, for instance —
have rendered them. Rummage as you may the most suspected
recesses of English diplomacy, you will find nothing there which bears
even the most far-fetched resemblance to the destruction of the Re-
public of Venice or to the ambuscade of Bayonne.

6. The liberal Colonial Policy of England unsurpassed by other na-
tions.— Columbus. — Negro Emancipation. — The Free Institutions
of the United States are of English origin. — Australia. — What
Canada, the basis of another great Confederation, owes to England.

Besides, it is not the general, but the colonial policy of England
which is now in question, and it is precisely in this latter that the
genius of the British people shines with all its lustre ; not, certainly,
that it has been at all times and in all places irreprochable, but it
has ever and every where equalled, if it have not surpassed, in wis-
dom, justice, and humanity all the other European races which have
undertaken several enterprises. It must be confessed that the his-
tory of the relations of s.Ohristian Europe with the rest of the world
since the Crusades is not attractive. Unfortunaly, neither the vir-
tues nor the truths of Christianity have ruled the successive conquests
w no in Asia and America by the powerful nations of the West.
After that first impetuous advance, so noble and so pious, of the

to overlook,
hich may be
)n hor some
for the Seve-
rn^ little cen-
. — Thiers. —

)ne has more
3 of EngUsh
first to de-
ton, lut too
ic strong, in
he great tra-
^etched in-
•e with their
the systems
ululgent to-
jht of folly
among the
}h nor more
1 ancient or
3 to demon-
not charity
is head, no
)f England
of France
by adverse
instance —
suspected
(vhich bears
of the Re-

]f other na-
nstitutions
.—Whai
> England.

England
r that the
certainly,
ble, but it
3d, in wis-
rhich have
]<t the his-
the world
r the vir-
conquests
he West,
us, of the

19

fifteenth century, which fathered the great, the saintly Columbus,
and all the champions of the maritime and colonial history of
Portugal, worthy of as high a place in the too ungiatuful momoiy of
men as the heroes of ancient Greece, wo see all the vices of modern
civilization usurp the place of the spirit of faith and of self-denial,
here extenninating the savage races, and elsewhere succumV)ing to
the enervating influence of the corrupting civilization of the East,
instead of regenerating it, taking its place. It is impossible not to
recognize that England, more particularly since the period when she
gloriously ransomed her participation in the kidnapping of the ne-
groes and colonial slavery, may pride herself on having escaped from
the greater part of those lamentable deviations from the path of
rectitude. To the historian who requires an account from her of
the result of her maritime and colonial enterprises for the last two
centuries, she has a right to reply, * ' *Si quoiris monumentnm, cir-
cumspice. " Can history exhibit many sepectacles of a grander or
more extraordinary nature, or more calculated to honor modem
civilization, than that aflbrded us by a company of English merchants
which has endured through two centiu-ies and a half, and which
governed but yesterday, at a distance of 2,000 leagues from the
mother country, nearly 200,000,000 of men by means of 800 civil ser-
vants, and of an army numbering from 15,000 to 20,000 men ? But
England has done better still ; she has not only founded colonies,
but called nations into being. She has created the United States ;
she has erected them into one of the greatest powers of the present
and of the future, by endowing them with those provincial and
individual liberties which enable them to victoriously emancipate
themselves from the light yoke of the mother countiy. " Our free
institutions " (such is the tenor of the message for the year 1852 of
the President of that great Republic) *'are not the fruit of the revo-
lution ; they had been previously in existence ; tl.ey had their roots
in the free charters under the provisions of which the Englsh colo-
nies had grown up."

At the present day England is in course of creating in Australia
United States anew, who will soon, in their turn, detach themselves
from the parent tree, destined as they are to become a great nation,
imbued from the cradle with the manly virtues and the glorious liber-
ties which are everywhere the appendage of the Anglo- Celtic race,
and which, let us declare it once again are more favorable to the
propagation of the Catholic truth and of the dignity of priesthood
than any other regime under the sun.

In Canada a noble French Catholic race, detached unfortunately
from oiu* country, but French in heart and in manners, owe to England
the benefit of having preserved, or acquired, in addition to full reli-
gious liberty, all the political and religious liberties which France
has rejected : the population has increased tenfold in less than a
century, and will serve as a basis to the new confederation which,
extending from the Oregon to the St. Lawrence, will one day be the
rival or the ally of the Great American Republic.

6. Great historical fadH for<jotten by certain French Catholic writert.
— Their Fratricidal jo\j at the DiMatersof EiKjland. — Cowardly In-
stiyatora of War, — Insane courae of French Clerical Press.

All thuso circuniHtuiiceH aru forgotten, miBunduratood, or inisro-
pruHuutud by cuvtuiu Huyulitit und Catholic writura, wlio diBchurgo
their vuuoiu evury day agaiiiHt the greatucHg and the liberty of En-
gland ; — Htrangu and ungratefiU lloyalistH, who forget that England
i» the only coinitry in Europe where the prestige of Royalty has not
guttered a taint duiing the huit two hundred years nearly ; the only
country, too, which ottered an inviolable asylum to the augunt exiles
of the Royal family of France, and lavished, with surpassing muni-
ficence, its assistance to the French emigrant nobility, and to the
French clergy proscribed for having refiisedto compound with schism :
— Catholics, stranger still ! who do not fear not only to compromise
all the rights of justice and truth, but, still more, the interests of the
Church itself, by obstinately seeking to establish a radical hostility
between the cause of catholicity and the free prospeiity of the most
extensive empire which exists in our days on the face of the globe,
every successive conquest achieved by which opens up immense
vistsis to the preaching of the Gospel and to the extension of the
Roman Catholic hierarchy. The cruel jo { with which the disasters,
whether actual or sujjposed, of the English in India have been wel-
comed, the strange sympatliies with the mmxlorers of Delhi and
Cawnpore, the daily invectives against a handful of brave soldiers
struggling with innmnerable enemies, and with a fatal climate, to
avenge their brothers, their wives, and their cliildren, immolated
alike, and to restore the legitimate and necessary ascendant of the
Christian West over the peninsula of India, will constitute one of
the darkest pages in the history, already so little edifying of the reli-
gious press of our time. We regard as revolting those sanguinary
declamations, accompanied by continual instigations to war between
two nations happily and gloriously allied — a war from the dangers
and saciifices of wliich ita pious promoters well know that they will
be the last to sutFer. And when they abound in the columns of cer-
tain journals specially devoted to the clergy, and encouraged by its
members ; when they are displayed between the nan'ative of an ap-
parition of the Virgin and that of the consecration of a church to the
God of mercy and of love, a sentiment of painful repugnance, which
may be classed among the heaviest trials in the [life of an honest
man, is called forth in every Cluistian soul which has not yet been
infected by tlie hatefid passions of a retrograde fanaticism ; we can
fancy that we hear in a night passed in the East the cry of the jaekal
between the cooings of the dove and the refreshing murmiu* of the
waters.

7. Greece and Chateaubriand. — Charles X. — Catliolic Prelates. — Dr.

Gillies of Edinburgh. — Pius IX. — Bishop of BocheUe.

I know this inspiration of old ; it was breathed into and detested
by me in the days of my childliood, when a considerable number of
those who called themselves the defenders of the alter and the throne,
banned with their disapproval the generous sons of Greece in insur-

rection
ters of
schisma
in the c
of the \
the unf<
longed
there is
Charles
Greece,
by the
the day
horror 1
press t(
the aa?e
taken p
able to
this sul
sympat
lies, Vi
eloquei
is parti
patema
sulFerei
turbabl
tation «
schism
For
horror
human
cant w
not be
tues pi
neighb
of equ
sential
dispell

!

< i

udic write n.
'Uivardly /»-
rcstt.

d, or miHro-
lu diHchurgu
)erty of En-
mt England
ulty has not
y ; tlio only
lugUHt exilea
MHing muni-

and to the
kvith HchiHui :
conipromiso
:ore8ts of the
ual hoBtility
of the most
f the globe,
ip inimeuse
ision of the
le disastera,
B been wel-

Delhi and
ive soldiers

climate, to
, immolated
dant of the
tute one of
J of the reli-
sanguinary
mr between
ihe dangers
it they will
imnci of cer-
laged by its
e of an ap-
iittch to the
ance, which

an honest
)t yet been
m ; we can
f the jackal
amr of the

laies. — Dr.
elk.

id detested
nimiber of
the throne,
;e in insur-

21

rection ftgainst the rule of the Ottomans, and who hailed the «li«w-
tera of Ipsara and Missolonghi as so many defeats HUHtiiinod by
schismatics and revolut ionists. Happily, nobler inspiration prevailed
in the counsels of the Rostc -ra-tion, as in the nattnally generous hearts
of the Royalists. Tho genius /'f Chateaubriand cnished to pDwdor
the unfortunate leanings af the pn y to which he had always be-
longed towards tho )>utchoi9 /»f tlie Peloponnesus. And yet to-day
there is not a Legitin ist but rec-igmzcs that it was the glory of
Oharles X to have takc/i tho principal piut in the deliverance of
Greece, and repudiates with borror the opinion ' held 35 years ago
by the principal organs of the Royalist party. Let us hope that
the day will cimie when every Catholic will repudiate with ((lual
horror tho detestable encouragement given at picsent by tho religioiis
press to the as8a8^•ins of India. Fortunately, no voice of authority in
the assembly of the faithful, no pcmtiff, no prince of the Church, has
taken part in this concert. On the contrary, wo are delighted at being
able to signalize, among tho numerous pastoral letters j)ublishedupon
this subject by the Catholic bishops in the British Islands, a jtatriotic
sympathy for the sufferings of their countrymen. That of Dr. Gil-
lies, Vicar Apostolic of Edinburgh, deserves to be quoted as the mo.st
eloquent lament yet inspired by that national catastrophe. And it
is particularly agreeable to us to recall to mind here the liberal and
paternal subscription of Pius IX, for the benefit of the Englisli
sufferers in India. It was at once a touching pledge of the imper-
turbable amiability of his pontifical soul, and the most conclusive refu-
tation of those prophets of hate who preach up an irreconcilable
schism between the Church and British greatness.

For my own part — I say it without cii'cundocution — I hold in
horror that orthodoxy which makes no account of justice or truth, of
humanity or honor ; and I am never tired of repeating tho signifi-
cant words lately expressed by the Bishop of Rochelle : "Would it
not be well to give to many Catholics a courae of lectures on the vir-
tues prescribed by the law of nature, on the respect due to one's
neighbor, on upright dealing even towards our enemies, on the spirit
of equity and of charity ? The virtues of the natural order are es-
sential, and with their exercise the Church herself has not power to
dispense."

8. Rash Dermnciations of Enr/land. — Hoto ill they become France. —
Loss of Freiich Colonies. — Colonial failure of Spain — of Portugal.

Again, how is that the people do not understand that, by these
rash denunciations of a nation which finds itself reproached at the
same time with the crimes of its fathers, and the virtues of its chil-
dren, its conversion to Protestantism in the sixteenth, and its asser-
tion of libei-ty in the nineteenth century, they expose tliemselves to
the harshest and most dangerous reprisals ? Ah I if it had l)een given
to France to accomplish the groat colonial career which was open to
it in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Ave should, no doubt,
possess a great and consoling example of which every Catholic might
be proud. If we had remained, with our missionaries, and our bold
but humane adventurers on the banks of the Mississippi and the St.

I :'

22

i

Lawrence, where the genius of France would have found so vast a
career wherein to develope itself at its ease ; if we had known how to
preserve the empire of the East Indies, which seemed, for a moment,
to be within our grasp, and to inaugurate there the social and
Cliristian virtues wliich are the legitimate appanage of our race, we
might brave every criticism and every comparison. But we have lost
all those fine possessions, and lost them precisely in that good old
time to which people wish to bring us back, when the monarchy was
not under any control, when "error had not the same rights as
truth. " Such being the case, and in the presence of history, does
not justice command us to avow that the Catholic nations, with the
exception of France, have failed wretchedly in the execution of the
great task which Providence imposed upon them in behalf of the
races whom they had subjugated i Does not history cry to Spain
in implacable accents, "Cain, Cain, where is thy brother?" What
has she done with those millions of Indians who peopled the isles and
the continent of the New World ? How many years sufficed for their
annihilation by the unworthy successors of Cohuubus and of Cortes,
in spite of the official protection of the Spanish Crown, in spite of the
heroic efforts and of the fervid and indefatigable charity of the reli-
gious orders ? Have they shown themselves less pitiless than the
Anglo-Americans in the North ? Are the lamentable pages, peiuied
by Bartholon.ow de Las Casas, effaced from the memory of men ?
The Eufrlish clergy are reproached with not having protested against
the exactions of Clive and of Warren Hastings. We admit it is not
given to Protestantism to give birth to such men as Las Casas and
Peter Claver ; that is the exclusive and immoi*tal privilege of the
Catholic Church. . But what are we to think if those orthodox na-
tions, with the advantages of such apostles and of such teaching,
have depopulated half the globe ! And what society did Spanish
conquest substitute for the races which had been exterminated instead
of having been civilized 1 Must we not turn away our eyes in sad-
ness at^seeinghow far the first elements of order, energy, discipline and
legality are wanting everywhere, except, perhaps, in Chili, to Spa-
nish enterprise, so destitute is it of the strong virtues of the ancient
Castiliau society, without having been able to acquire any of the
qualities which characterize modern progess ? In Hindostan itself
what remains of Portuguese conquest ? What is there to shew for
the nuiuberless conversions achieved by St. Francis Xavier I What
remains of the vast organization of that church which was placed
under the protection of the Crown of Portugal ? Go, ask that ques-
tion at Goa ; fathom there the depths of the moral and material
deci-epitude into which has fallen a rule inunortalized by Albuquei'que,
by John de Castro, and by so many others worthy to be reckoned
among the most valiant Christians who have ever existed. You
will there see to Avhat the moral influence of absolute power can
bring Catholic colonies as well as their mother countries.

9. Canada Colonized by French Catholics. — Dicta of M. de Maistre.

— Tlie Catholic Church cannot be sustained by falsehood.

What must be concluded from this ? That Catholicity renders a

people incapable of colonizing ] God forbid ! Canada, the example

of which we have quoted above, is there to give the lie to any such

2S

d so vast a
own how to
a moment,
social and
iir race, we
VG have lost
b good old
narchy was
rights as
story, does
s, with the
fcion of the
lalf of the
y to Spain
?" What
he isles and
!ed for their
of Cortes,
spite of the
af the reli-
) than the
es, penned
ry of men ?
ted against
lit it is not
Casas and
ege of the
tliodox na-
\i teaching,
d Spanish
ted instead
es in sad-
cipline and
li, to Spa-
he ancient
my of the
stan itself
) shew for
ri What
^Ts placed
bliat ques-
■ material
uqiierque,
reckoned
od. You
ower can

Maistre.
od.
renders a

example
any such

blasphemous assertion. But we are bound to conclude this much—-
that it is well when people constitute themselves the champions of
Catholic interest, to look behind and around before heaping up in-
vective on invective, calumny on calumny, in order to thi-ow dis-
credit on those nations which are unfortimately foreign or hostile to
the chiu-ch. When people have for ever in their mouths the dictum
of de Maistre, " History bas been for three centuries in a conspiracy
against truth," they should not begin afresh, in history written for
the use of Catholics, that great conspiracy against truth as well as
against justice and liberty. On the contrary, thei d is another dictum
of M. de Maistre which should be called to mind, " The church is
in need of truth and is in need but of that." Falsehood, under
either of the two forms which law and theology recognize — namely,
the suggestio falsi and the supprcssio veri, is the saddest homage
which can be rendered to the church. She cannot be served well by
borrowing the method and adopting the proceedings of her worst
enemies. To play the tricks and to enact the violences of error in her
cause is not to defend the truth. The spirit of modem times has
begun to perceive that a great deal of falsehood has been in circula-
tion during three centuries against God and his church ; it has
begun to shake off the yoke of that falsehood. Do people then, wish
to plunge it back again into the hatred of good ? Do they wish to
repel it towards the intellectual excesses of the eighteenth century t
For that end one infallible mean is at hand — ^the practice or the
absolution of falsehood, even involuntary, for the greater glory
of God-

CH AFTER III. — ^The English and Continental Pkbss. — Bri-
tish Rule in India.

10. Philippics of English publications on British Bule in India
— their conservative and healthy influence.— The English Fress — its
unsparing impartiality, and the generous instincts of the public.

But has England herself been irreproachable in the foundation
and aduiiuistration of the immense empire which she possesses in the
East Indies ? Certainly not; and if we were tempted to attribute to
her a degree of innocence or of \'irtue to which she has never pre-
tended, it would suffice to undeceive one's self to look through the
works Avithout number which have appeared on the Govermnent of
British India, not only since the breaking out of the insurrection,
but previously to that event. In all this mountain of publications,
panegyric Jind apology are exceedingly rare ; the most vehement
philippics and accusations abound ; but what is of far more conse-
quence than systematic praise or blame, is the profound and superla-
tively sincere investigation of the faults, dangers, difficulties and
infirmities of British rule in India.

I shall not cease to repeat that it is in this extensive, and, indeed,
unlimited publicity that the principal strength of English society
consist the essential condition of its vitality and the sovereign gua-
rantee of its liberty. The Englisli press, at first sight seems to be

!.

i

i|

;i

•!i

ci'

y

24

'I l

i \

nothing but Tuiiversal and permanent indictment again»t every one
and everything ; but upon a closer inspection we perceive that dis-
ciission, rectification, or reparation, follow closely on denunciation
and strong language.

Mistakes and injustice, no doubt, frequently offend, and in a fla-
grant degree ; but they are almost always amended immediately, or
excused in consideration of the salutary truths or indispensable lights
which reach the pnblic mind by the same road. Not a general, an
admiral, a diplomatist, a statesman is spared ; they are all treated
in the same manner as tbe Duke of Wellington when, at the outset
of his victories in the Peninsula he was preparing the emancipation
of Europe and the preponderance of his country — in the midst of the
clamors of the Opposition, both in the press and in Parliament ; and
all, like him, resign themselves to this situation, confiding in the
definitive justice of the country and of opinion, which has hardly
ever been wanting to them. The public, accustomed to the din and
to the apparent confusion which arises from this permanent conflict
of contradictory opinions and testimonies, ends after the lapse of a
certain time, by coming to recognize its true position. It possesses,
above all, a wonderful tact for imra veiling the true natiu*e of certain
purely individual manifestations, however noisy they may be, and
for attributing to them that degree of importance which they really
merit, respecting and maintaining the while the right which every
Englishman asserts for himself to judge and criticize everything, and
even to deceive himself at his proper peril.

11. Failure in France to appreciate the development of individual
liberty in England. — Effects of political repression in France.
— Satirical references to Napohon's Government.

Those who feel themselves offended — not without reason — ^by the
coarse form, or by the evident falsity of certain opinions expressed
by some English orators or writers with respect to foreign affairs,
should never forget two circumstances — first, that this species of
cutting and imbndled criticism is indulged in more coarsely, more
freely and more habitually on the subject of English public men and
home affairs ; secondly, that it is always the act, as well as the opi-
nion, of an individual member of society in which the progress of
civilization has consisted up to the present hour in the unrestrained
development of individual power and liberty. This is what is con-
tinually forgotten, and hence arise so many opinions, either absurdly
false or exaggerated, of the continental press respecting the true
bearing of certain speeches or writings, which it does not fail to
quote and to comment on as possessing a quasi official sense. Not-
withstanding, international relations so numerous and so long con-
tinued notwithstanding the slight distance which separates France
from England, and the brief interval intervening between the Fxench
people and their past history, we have lost the art of understanding
the nature of a great free nation, whereof each individual is free and
permits himself every whim. We possess not only the habits but
even the instincts of those sober and orderly people, doomed to an
eternal minority, who sometimes consent to go astray in fearful

12.

every one

that dis-

unciation

d in a fla-
iately, or
ible lights
ineral, an
11 treated
;he outset
.ncipation
dst of the
lent ; and
ng in the
las hardly
le din and
it conflict
lapse of a
possesses,
of certain
Y be, and
hey really
ich every
phing, and

Individual
\ France.

n — ^by the
expressed
^ affairs,
species of
lely, more
! men and
8 the opi-
rogress of
restrained
lat is con-
• absurdly
the true
ot fail to
se. Not-
long con-
ies France
le French
rstanding
3 free and
labits but
ned to an
in fearful

25

paths, but who speedily fall back into civil impotence, among whom
no one dares to speak except after orders, or by permission, with the
salutary terror of a warning from authority hanging over their heads
if they shoidd be so rash as to oppose by never so little the ideas of
Government or those of the mass.
r

12. Great Liberty of Speech in England and her Colonies. — Example

of the invocation of a foreign power by an Irish Catholic.

In England, and throughout its vast colonies, it is quite the reverse ;
every one in the world of politics says what he thinks, and does
what may please him without permission from any one whomsoever,
and without incurring repressive measures other than those imposed
by general opinion and by the public conscience, when these may be
braved with too great a degree of boldness. Under the impulse of
the moment, in a fit of spite, ill-humor or vanity, any English sub-
ject, any isolated individual, without a mission from others, without
authority, influence, or responsibility to any one, but seldom without
sympathy, expresses, by word of mouth or in writing, whatever may
pass through his mind. Sometimes it is the triumphant accent of
justice and truth which thus makes itself heard, universally under-
stood, speedily accepted, and everywhere repeated by the thousand
echoes of an ixnrestrained publicity ; and it is in order not to destroy
this chance which may be the only one in favor of right and of na-
tional interest, that the English are unanimous in resigning them-
selves to the serious inconvenience attaching to liberty of speech.

At other times we encounter ridiculous or offensive exaggerations,
gratuitous insults to foreigners ; or, again in a contrary direction, a
direct appeal to their interference in the internal affairs of the United
Kingdom.* Of tener still, we notice a pleasantry, a sally, a puerile
boast, a platitude, destined, on the morrow, to be contradicted,
refuted, abused, and forgotten. But if by chance such a passage
should fall in the way of one of those translators, authorized by the
censorship, who nourish in so strange a manner the Continental press,
instantly all the privileged detractors of liberty transcribe it, take due
note of it, wax wroth, threat, cry aloud, *' See how England thinks,
and what she siiys," and proceed to the deduction of consequences of
an absurdly alarming cast, now for the peace of the world, anon for
the security of the British institutions, under pain of being promptly
and shamefully controverted by reflection and facts.

13. Absolute Governments destructive to Society. — ^^ Publicity in

England the pivot of universal existence. "

Let us; hazard the passing remark that the great e^dl of absolute
Governments 's, that their faults are kept secret. Like an abscess,
that is never lanced, never dressed, never reduced, these faults spread,

* Sec in the Univcrs of the 25th of Aupust last a translated report of a spceeh of
Archdeacon Fitzuterald, in which he proposed to his | country men to rcur to the
Emperorof the French for the purpose of obtaining from tho Endish Government
the concession of tenant-rifrht. What would be the consequence in France, in Aus-
tria or at Naples, if a Catholic priest should hold such langumre in public, and invite
the faitliful to address tliemselves to a foreign rule, iu order to force the Govern-
ment at home to do them justice F

1 !■

<n

26

. t.-'

and little by little corrupt the entire body of society. On the con-
tra: y, as had been observed with reason, an evil is never irreparable
in a country where people know how to preach themselves a lesson
with such rigour, without fearing to wound national pride or to humi-
liate the Government. PubUcity in England, rash, imprudent,
coarse, often apparently compromising the dignity of the country,
' and sometimes capable of endangering international relations, consti-
tutes at once the daily bread of the majority, the supreme asylum of
the minority, the pivot of universal existence.

It is the remedy for all the evils insepai'able from a civilisation so far
advanced, a painful but salutary and infallible remedy, and which,
above all, proves better than any other argument the strong consti-
tution of the patient. This remedy has never yet failed ; witness
what came to pass during the progress of the Russian war, and the
comparative state of the two allied armies in the course of their
second winter in the Crimea. Happy the nations who can so undergo
the ordeal of fire and sword. Those nations may be truly called
manly who find nothing to envy in any one, and who have to fear
only an excess of confidence in their strength.

14. The fall of the Ea^t India Company -its glorious career — its Gene-
rals.— The Anglo-Saxon race.

The preceding observations serve to eiplain the fact that there
exists no kind of reproach or of abuse with the English and the
Anglo-Indians have not addressed to their Government, to their
generals, above all to the East India Company, that great corporation
which, after a hundred years of success and of increasing prosperity,
beholds itself attacked at the close of its glorious career by that
cowardly complicity of human nature all the world over with fortune,
which shows itself when she abandons those whom she has long over-
loaded with her favors. But if we duly weigh the worth of all those
accusations, if we hear the witnesses for the defence, if we consult
the past state of things as compared with existing facts, we cannot
feel inclined to ratify in every point the sentence pronoimced against
it. The future will tell whether it was right to profit by the actual
crisis by suppressing the " Double Government," and by displacing
the multitude of wheels wliich ever since Pitt's famous Bill of 1784
have always had for effect to render more complicated the action in
India of the home Government, by restraining more and more the
independence of the Company. Meanwhile, it would be the height
of injustice to condemn its history to the block.

Certainly, it has committed more than one fault, perhaps more than
a single crime. It has not done all the good it might have done.
But I assert, without hesitation, that the East India Company, now
defunct by virtue of the Act of the 2nd August, 1858, is, of all
powers known in the colonial liistory of the ancient or modern world,
that which has done the greatest things with the humblest means,
and that which, in any equal space of time, has conferred the great-
est amount of good and inflicted the least of evil on the people sub-
ject to its rule. I assert that it delivered the different populations
of India from a yoke, which, in general, was atrocious, in order to
subject them to a regime incomparably milder and more equitable,

se

n the con-
rreparable
iH a lesson
)r to humi •
mpnident,
e country,
)ns, consti-
asyliun of

ition so far
and which,
mg consti-

witness
and the

of their
so undergo
;ruly called
ave to fear

—its Gene-

that there
h and the
\d, to their
corporation
prosperity,
eer by that
ith fortune,
i long over-
of all those

we consult

we cannot
Lced against

the actual
'' displacing
5ill of 1784
ie action in
d more the

the height

3 more than
have done,
ipany, now
i, is, of all
lern world,
est means,
I the great-
people sub-
jopulations
n order to
equitable,

27

although still imperfect. It employed for the improvement of the
conquered race not, certainly all the efforts which it ought and might
have made, and which the English themselves unceasingly called for,
but a hundred-fold more solicitude and devotion than any of the
native Powers, whose place it took upon itself to fill, or than any of
the European nations invested by conquest with a similar mission.

Admitting, even, that the immoral selfishness of a corporation of
merchants has but too often signalized its debuts in the Peninsula of
Hindostan, still, for more than fifty years, its generals and princi-
pal agents, the Wellesleys, the Malcolms, the Munroes, the Ben-
tincks, fully displayed all the zeal and all the activity becoming their
high functions to expiate the evil deeds of their predecessors, and to
lead every impartial observer to avow that, in the present state of
things, British domination is at once a benefit and a necessity for
the inhabitants of India.

It has not found means to correct, or to contain within bounds,
everywhere, the haughtiness, coldness, and the insolence natural to
the English ; but it has constantly straggled against the residts aris-
ing from that disagreeable mixture of selfishness and energy, which,
in the instance of the Anglo-Saxon race, too frequently degenerates
into ferocity, and of which but too numerous examples ofler them-
selves in the United States.

15. Ameliorations effected by British Rule in India. — The Feudal
Tenure there. — Questionable Annexations. — Absence of Good Faith
in Eastern Races. — Good effects of English Rule.

In those districts where it was invested with territorial sovereignty,
it abolished in every direction slavery and forced labor {corvees) ; in
the majority of cases it respected all vested rights, and, but too often,
abuses established before its advent to power. Hence it is that Eu-
ropean agents, continually deceived by native employes who serve as
indispensable under-agents in immediate contact with the population,
have come to be regarded as accomplices in the use of atrocious
means and of torture put in practice by the tax-gatherers ; but let
it not be forgotten that it was the Indians who employed torture,
while it was the English who discovered, denouncad, and pimished
the native butchers.

Respecting the question of the territorial constitution of Hindos-
tan, forming the subject of so much controversy, and so imperfectly
understcjod, the Company has always prevented the dispossession of
the proprietors of the soil by the English colonists or speculators,
sanctioning, with Lord Cornwallis, the feudal tenure of the great
Mussulman and Hindoo landowners in Bengal, recognizing and giving
regular etiect to the rights of the present cultivators, as, for instance
in the presidencies of Bombay and Madras ; or those of rural com-
munities, as in the case of the North- Western Provinces.

The Company has been reproached, above all, with the eagerness it
has exhibited in the annexation to its immediate rule of States the
suzerainty of which it accepted or obtained in their capacity either
of allies or vassals. But people do not ask themselves often enough
if it has not been necessarily and involuntarily compelled, in the
majority of cases, to absorb these independent States. From all of

28

I

«■ ■

^4

which we ourselves have made trial in Algeria, from what has taken
place in China up to this, it is clear that nothing can be more difficult
than to establish relations with the Eastern races, either as our allies
or auxiliaries, and that their limited good faith, and even their in-
telligence, cannot go beyond the idea of open war or complete sub-
jection. Every one seems agreed in regarding the recent annexation
of Oude by the Marquis of Dalhousie as an unjustifiable act which has
furnished a legitimate pretext for the insurrection of the Sepoys, It
would be more just to reproach the English Administration with
having too long covered with its protection the crimes and excess of
the Court of Lucknow, and of the aristocracy, composed of great
feudatories, who crushed down the country imder civil wars and
exactions. Read in the Private Life of an Eastern King, a work
published in 1855, the account of the outrageous conduct of one of
those monsters who reigned at Lucknow previously to the annexa-
tion ; and, again, in a work by Colonel Sleeman, Political Resident
at that Court, the daily acts of violence and spoliation which the
rural population underwent in consequence of wars between feudal
chiefs. The English have not accepted in a sufficiently zealous spirit
the responsibility imposed on them by their position as a protecting
power, the species of suzerainty which they exercised since 1801,
when an English Army occupied tliat State, when also they made
the mistake of restoring the native dynasty under the tutelage of a
resident. Either they should not have intermeddled in any way in
affairs of their next neighbors, or they should not have tolerated
ancient excesses and abuses to perpetuate themselves under the En-
glish suzerainty. This much is certain — that the popidation is ac-
tually less ill treated in the districts completely united to English
rule than in those where the nominal authority of the Rajahs and of
Nabobs tributaries of England, still subsists. Meanwhile the efforts
of the Company to bring into regular and universal use the Euro-
pean system — so little in accord with Eastern habits — of adminis-
tering justice, and of striking and levying taxes, have led it to clash
with a crowd of individual interests, and to render the masses ill-
disposed. Although less heavily taxed than under the native princes
the population is not less inclined to fear that the rights of property,
as understood and practised among them, might be sacrificed and
rendered subordinate to fiscal interests. Besides, the Governors-
General, sometimes in spite of the Company itself, seem to have
deeply wounded the national feeling of the Indian races by refusing
to recognize, when there mijht be questions of the order of succession
to the throne among the Rajahs and Nabobs, the titles of adopted
heirs, whom the laws and immemorial usage invest with the same
rights as the heirs of the body. ^

16. Rdiffious Colonial Policy of England — of Spnin — of France in
Algeria. — Lord Stanley's present Policy. —Catholic sriccesses in
India, and in the East under English Rule. — Missionary Testi-
mony.

It is especially on the subject of religion that the accusations against
the Company can be regarded as unjust and contradictory. Some
bitterly reproach it with having done nothing for the j)ropagation of

29

las taken
e difficult
our allies
their in-
ilete sub-
inexation
Nvhich has
poys. It
tion with
excess of

of great
wars and
jT, a work
of one of

annexa-
Resident
vhich the
en feudal
lous spirit
protecting
nee 1801,
;hey made
jlage of a
ny way in
! tolerated
jr the En-
ion is ac-
o English
ills and of
the efforts
the Euro-

■ adminis-
it to clash

nasses ill-
ve princes

■ property,
[•ificed and
jrovemors-
n to have
y refusing
succession
if adopted

the same

France in

uccesses in
ary Testi-

)ns against
L-y. Some
•agation of

Christianity in India ; others, again, attribute the recent explosion
to the spirit of proselytism which it encouraged or tolerated on the
part of missionaries, and of certain officers animated by a zeal too
evangelical. Under both heads these accusations are false. Founded
for exclusively commercial purposes, the East India Company has
never aflected, like the Spanish and Portuguese conquerors, to work
"for the greater glory of God ;" but as a compensation, it has never
undertaken to impose truth by force on a people fanatically attached
to its errors, and it has not seen any of the races subject to its rule
disappear or become extinct. It struggled slowly and prudently
against certain social crimes which formed part and parcel of the
Hindoo religion such as the self-immolation of widows, infanticide,
and Thuggism ; but, at bottom, it has scrupulously respected the reli-
gion of its subjects. By its example, still more than by its direct
action, it has repressed a blind and rash spirit of proselytism, which
could have only served to increase the natural antipathy between the
two races, and which might have ended in the hon-ors too justly
imputed to the Spaniards of Mexico and Peru. But, far from pre-
senting any obstacle to the preaching of the Gospel, it, in the first
place organized the national worship for the benefit of the English
employes ; and, further, by opening up the immense regions of India
on either bank of the Ganges to Christians of every persuasion, it
secured to every effort of individual zeal that liberty which is the
first and sole requirement of conscientious missionai'ies. Those
among us who come forward periodically as apologists of the revoca-
tion of the Edict of Nantes, and who laud Charlemagne for having
condemned to death those who were so bold as to seek an escape
from baptism in flight, will, doubtless, be of opinion that it wjis
better to murder people after baptizing them, as the Spaniards did
in America ; but an overwhelming majority among the Clu'istians of
our day will be of another opinion, and no sensible man will tax the
East India Company with the commission of a crime in having pur-
sued in Hindostan that very system which we ourselves practice in
Algeria, and the introduction of v/hich into the Ottoman Empire and
Cliina is demanded by us.

Those who reproach England with not having been able to gain
Protestant converts in Hindostan would do well, perhaps, to inform
themselves of the nmnber of Catholics whom we may have converted
in Algeria. I go too far even in making mention of Algeria ; for,
if I am correctly informed, the preaching of the Catholic religion to
the natives, and the efibrts made to convert them encounter there the
most serious obstacles onthepai"t of the civil and military authorities.
We have not yet heard, so far as I am aware, of Catholic missions
encouraged, or even tolerated, by the French Government among
the Arabs, the Moors, or the Kabyles subject to French rule. It
has been alleged as a crime against the English magistrates that
they kept on foot property devoted to the celebration of the absurd
and frequently obscene rites of Brahminical idolatry and that they
sent a guard of police to keep order on occasion of such ceremonies.
This has not taken place in India since the Act of 1840 ; but it is
precisely what the French Goveniment believes itself to be called ou

30

to do in Africa, an 1 assuredly wo shall not meet with any state paper,
penned by an English functionary professing an equal amount of
sympathy and protection for Mahomedan woi-ship as the speech of
M. Latour- Mezeray, Prefect of Algiers in 1857, to the Muftis and
Ulemas, in which he quoted the Koran with unction, in order to
exalt the munificence of the Emperor towards Islam. I do not re-
member having seen a single word of criticism on this speech in those
French newspapei-s which are the most prodigal in invective against
the pretended complicity of the Anglo-Indians with the worship of
Juggernaut.

The new secretary for India, Lord Stanley, son of the Premier,
has solemnly declared that the Home Government now invested,
subject to the control of Parliament, with all the powers of the
whole Company, means to persist in the (so-called) errors of the
latter on the subject of religion. In an official interview between
him and the delegates of Protestant missionary societies on the
7th of August ult., he announced that, though allowing all due
liberty to missionaries, the authorities would observe the most sin-
cere and most complete religious neutrality, by the maiTitenance of
equality before the law between the votaries of every religious belief.
What can be more favorable to the progress of Catholicity in
India than this system ? What competition has it to fear, since it is
certain that the disitribution of bibles to which act is limited Protes-
tant propagandism, has not yet produced other than delusive residts ?
Is it not evident that if the government intervened more directly,
it could do so only in the interest of Anglicanism ? What is to bo
required is, that it should faithfully execute this programme, and
that it should put an end to the flagrant injustice which has so long
prevailed respecting the salaries of the Protestant and Catholic chap-
lains attached to the army, and the facilities granted for the celebration
of Divine service in the prisons and regimental schools. But here,
again, when the pecuniary favours accorded to the schools and
churches of the establishment are contrasted with the abandonment
of Catholic institutions, it is forgotten that the English religious
establishments in India were founded at a period when the Catholics
of the mother-country groaned under penal laws, just like Protes-
tants in France. Both the former and the latter have been indebted
for their emancipation to the altogether modern principle of liberty
of conscience. The East India Company had the merit of recogni-
zing this principle in Hindostan, before it had triumphed in England,
Although exclusively composed of Protestants, it has never opposed
the preaching of Catholic doctrine. What is now demanded, and
rightly, is, not only liberty, but equality, as between dift'erent sects,
and that point is being arrived at gradually. The English Govern-
ment has already made a step in the right direction ; in 1857 the
company doubled the salaries of the Catholic chaplains, and, by
virtue of an order made by the Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-
chief, bearing date the 24th of June, 1858, 19 additional Catholic
chaplains have been nominated, with salaries equalling in amount
those of the Protestant chaplains. A circular of General Peel, Se-
cretary of war, dated the 23rd of June, 1858, has introduced into

31

ate paper,
imount of
speech of
luftis and
n order to
do not re-
3I1 in those
ve against
woi-ship of

Premier,
invested,
ers of the
)rs of the
V between
es on the
ng all due
most sin-
enance of
oils belief,
lolicity in
, since it is
:ed Protes-
ve results ?
e directly,
lat is to bo
imme, and
las so long
holic chap-
celebration
But here,
3hools and
mdonment
li religious
3 Catholics
Ice Protes-
ti indebted
of liberty
»f recogni-
1 England,
er opposed
mded, and
rent sects,
h Govem-
1 1857 the
I, and, by
nander-in-
il Catholic
in amount
I Peel, Se-
iuced into

the economy of the regimental schools some valuable reforms, which
might well serve as models in Prussia and other countries where
there is a mixed population. But, beyond those favours, which are
only acts of justice, the progress of the Catholic religion in India
has been, for a long time past, identified with the maintenance and
the existence of British power, by the fact alone that this latter
aasures liberty to the preaching of the Gospel, and exercises an as-
cendancy, for the benefit of Europeans, and of their opiniony, even
in those regions which may not be subject to its rule. Let us
suppose that the English should be expelled from India, and that
that country should be placed once more under the yoke of the res-
tored from the Mussulman Hindoo princes ; is it not evident that
we should soon be obliged to present ourselves there to protect our
missionaries with cannon-shot, as has been done in China and
Cochin-China. "Our hope of success" — thus writes a French mis-
sionary on the point of setting out for Thibet in July, 1857 — "lay
in the prestige which English power exercises in the regions we
were about to traverse." The numerous Catholic bishoprics estab-
lished in the Peninsula of Hindostan since its conquest by England,
bear witness more loudly than any other argument, to the importance
of the services rendered by that conquest to the true faith. If the
congregation of the Propaganda at Rome were consulted, it would
then be known how many bishops and missionaries have reason to
rejoice at the absolute liberty which they enjoy in Company's terri-
tories, whenever they do not encounter difficulties arising from the for-
mer patronage of the Portuguese Crown, and from the too generous
concessions formerly accorded by the Holy See to a Catholic state
whoso spirit of chicanery and of encroachment dates neither from to-
day, nor yesterday, but traces its origin to the period of its first esta-
blishment, and forms so sad a contrast with the title of "Very faith-
ful "granted by the Popes to the Kings of Portugal. The sworn de-
tractors of modern liberty, the retrospective admirers of orthodox and
absolute monarchies, will find nothing in the annals of the Anglo-
Indian Government which can, even distantly, recal the 10 years*
imprisonment to which were condemned at Goa, the Vicars- Apostolic
sent by Urban VIII to Japan, or the penalty of death, which was
still in force in 1687 against all those who endeavored to penetrate
into China without previous permission from the Governors of Macao.
Besides, the Incfian insurgents, less enlightened, no doubt, than
their patrons at Paris and Turin, have not made any distinction be-
tween Catholics and Protestants ; at Delhi, at Agra, and Cawnpore
they sacked our convents and slaughtered our missionaries just as
if they were Church of England men ; and these latter had merited
the crown of martyrdon bj' their indefatigable devotedness and gene-
rous charity towards the woimded and sick of both sects.

17. Failure of the Press to incriminate any English functionary in
India. — The Mutiny caused by fictions and by the credulity of the i^epoys
themselves, not by rigour or violence. — Examples of over indidgence.

This is certain, that amid all the deluge of accusations launched
against the British Administration, by the foreign press and that of

I

il-

32

the mother country, and principally by tlie newspapers puhlished in
India, wliich respect no one and suppress nothing, no one has yet
succeeded in pointing out, within any reasonable period shortly pre-
ceding the insunoction, a single act of cruelty, coiTUption, or perfidy
which am be imputed to any individujd English functionary, whether
civil or military. This gives us the key to a fact of very great im-
portance, and which alone sufhces to absolve English dominion in
India. Duiing the period of nearly eighteen months that the insur-
rection has lasted its character has been purely military. The civil
popiUation has taken no serious part in it, and, except in some rare
instances, has refused all aid to the insurgents, notwitlistanding the
good opportunities and numerous temptations wliich the partial
defeats of the Englisli and tlie small number of their troops may
have presented. Far from that, it is well known that it is, even
now, to the aid of native princes, and of auxiliary troops borrowed
from races different from those composing the Bengal army, that
England owes the good fortune of having been able to make a suc-
cessful stiind against the insurgents. The revolt has been exclusively
the work of the Sepoys enrolled in the Company's regiments ; and
upon this point again the slightest act of rigor or of violence on the
part of tlie English officers, which could have produced the revolt,
is not produced in evidence. In order to induce ■':i;3m to rise, it was
necessary to have recourse to fictions, not one uf which implies any
hardness or injustice on the part of the English officers, but which
turned altogether on the supposed dangers to which the religious
faith and the traditional usages of the Sepoys were asserted to be
exposed. Their credulity in this respect is the more inexplicable,
since the most competent observers are unanimous in recognizing
that the English had practised forbearance, carried even beyond its
natural limits, towards the prejudices of caste, and the overweening
sense of superiority of the Brahmins, who formed the majority in the
Bengal regiments. The indulgence and partiality for the Indians
had boon i)ushed so far as to do away with corporal punishment in
the native army, subsisting, as it stiU continues to do, as regards the
English troops, and of which such revolting use had been made in
Europe during the period of the revolt in the Ionian Islands in 1849,
at the very time that the draymen of London violently assaulted the
Austrian Gleneral Haynau, whom they reproached with having caused
women to be flogged in Hungary.

18. Excessive rigour to the vanquished, — Spain. — Tyrol. — La Vendue.

After having thus allotted to the defence of a great people, imjustly
defamed, so much of our space, our motive being that it enjoys
almost alone the honor of representing liberty in modern Europe, it
is fitting to testify to the just indignation which the excessive rigor
of the chastisements inflicted by the English on the vanquished in-
surgents who have fallen into their hands ought to evoke, I am
aware of all that can be said to excuse reprisals, only too legitimate,
against savagerj guilty of the most monstrous excesses, committed on
the persons of so many officers, surprised and disarmed, and especially
of so maiiy noble women, innocent young girls, and poor little chil-

tublished in
)ne lias yet
ihoi'tly pre-
«, or perfidy
ivy, wliether
great im-
loininion in
tthe insur-
The civa
1 some rare
landing the
the partial
troops may

it is, even
8 borrowed

army, that
iiaku a suc-
i exclusively
nents ; and
luco on the

the revolt,

rise, it was
implies any

but which
le religious
arted to be
nexplicable,
recognizing

beyond its
Dverweening
jority in the
the Indians
iiishment in
1 regards the
en made in
nds in 1849,
ssaulted the
iving caused

-La Vendie.

pie, unjustly
it it enjoys
Europe, it
:es8ive rigor
iquished in-
oke. I am
> legitimate,
>mmitted on
id especially
' little ohil-

S8

dren, slatightered in hundreds, without any provocation for such
horrid deeds. I can well understand the battle-cry of the High-
landers at the assault of Delhi, *' Remember the ladies, remember
the babies." I admit, moreover, that the severe punishments in-
flicted on soldiers taken with arms in their hands, all of them volun-
tarily enUsted, and bound under an oath, taken of their own free
will, to respect the commanders whom they have massacred, cannot
be compared with the chastisements inflicted on innocent and hospit-
able populations by the conquerors of the New World, nor even
with the rigorous punishments decreed by our Generals of the French
Empire against the populations of Spain and the Tjrrol, engaged in
the most legitimate of insurrections, still less to the hoiTors com-
mitted in Vendue by the butchers of the Convention. But for all
that, I am not the less convinced that the just limits of repression
have not been overpassed, and that the executions en masse of the
defeated Sepoys, systematically continued after the first burst of grief,
caused by unheard-of atrocities, will fix an indelible stain on the
history of British rule in India. This is no longer justice, but ven-
geance. A people really free should leave the sad privilege of being
cruel to slaves in revolt. A Christian people ought to know that it
is at once a thing forbidden and impossible for it to struggle against
infidel races with such arms as mere punishment may supply. It is
the part of the English officials, who direct mihtary and poli-
tical operations from the Indus and the Ganges, to know how to
resist the odious incitement of the Anglo-Indian press. They have
before them the example of the chivalrous Havelock, who, in a pro-
clamation addressed to the soldiers whom he was leading against the
cut-tliroats of Cawnpore, declared that it did not become Christian
soldiers to take Pagan butchers for their modeK

19. The English Heroes in India. — Havelock, Nicholson^ Wilaonf

NeiU, Lawrencey and Peel.

That one name of Havelock recalls and contains in itself all the
virtues manifested by the English in that gigantic struggle, and
which would find themselves tarnished beyond any hope of restora-
tion by an obstinate perseverance in too cruel a repression. Have-
lock, a hero of the antique stamp, resembling by his finish and
irreproachable qualities the great Puritans of the 17th century,
already advanced in age before having distinguished himself, sud-
denly flung into the jaws of an immense danger with but insignificant
means of grappling successfully with it, brought all things to a happy
issue by his conscientious courage, attained at one stroke that glory
and immense popularity which are re-echoed wherever the English
language is spoken, died before he could have enjoyed them, occu-
pied in his last moments with the interests of his soul and the propar
gation of Christianity in India, and saying to his son, about to receive
his last sigh, " For forty years I have been preparing for this
day ; death is for me a blessing." He figures worthily at the head
of a group of heroes who showed themselves equal to every difficulty,
danger and sacrifice. Among them grateful England loves to name
Nioholaon, Wilson, and Neill, also canied off by death in the midst

C

34

of thoir victories ; Sir Henry Lawrence, foromoBt among the heroes
of Lncknow, and the man whoso energy has recently wived the recent
cnnqnestH of the North- West ; in tine, if we only fipeak of the dead,
Captain Peel, the young and noble son of the great Sir 1101)011; Peel,
as bravo on land a» ho was at sea, whose premature death has been
a national loss. Victims of a struggle between civilization and bar-
barism, they are known to every Ohristian people ; all can admire
them without restriction and without reserve. They do houor to
the human race.

20. Heroiam of the English Victima in Lulia. — 27te Noble Spectacle
of the National Solemic Fast of October, 1857.

And it is not only such names, great beyond comparison, it is the
bearing in every resi)ect of this handful of Englislnnen, sui-prised in
the midst of peace and prosperity by the most frightful and most
unforsetin of catjistrophes. Not one of them shrimk or trembled
before their butchers — all, military and civilians, yoiuig and old,
generals and soldiers, resisted, fo\tght, and jierished with a coolness
and intrepidity which never faltered. It is in this circumstance
that shines out the immense value of public education, such as we
have signalized it in these pages, which invites the Englishman from
his youth to make use of his strength and his liberty, to associate,
resist, fear notliing, be astonished at nothing, and to save himself by
his own sole exertions, from every sore strait in life. Again, the
Englishwomen, doomed to share the sufferings, the anguish, and, in
such numbers, the atrocious death of their fathers and of their hus-
bands, showed the same Christian heroism. The massacre of Cawn-
pore, on which occjision, before being slaughtered, men and women,
tied together, obtained for sole favor to kneel and hear read the
prayers of the Liturgy by the chaplain destined to perish with them,
looks like a page torn from the acts of the first martyrs. It gratifies
us to link this scene with the day of solemn fast and humiliation
ordered by the Queen, and universally observed on the 7th of Octo-
ber, 1857. when the noble spectacle presented itself of a whole people
prostrate before God to beseech Him for pardon and mercy. Such
are the examples, and such the memories, and not the revolting and
puerile excesses, of a bloody repression, which ought to furnish
England with strength to resist her enemies and with the conviction
of vanquishing them.

CHAPTER IV. — Events which led to the fall of Loed

Palmbrston.

21. Feeling against France at the time of the great Parliamentary
Debate in May. — The right of Free Asylum vindicated in England.
'—Fall of Lord Palmerston.

In all that the reader has perused thus far, I have not pretended
to explain or to justify all the circumstances attending the re-
cent occurrences in India; I did not seek to sit in judgment on
the past, still less to inspire a confidence in others as to the futuij

10 heroes
ho recent
Mo dead,
ort Peel,
has been
and bar-
n admire
lienor to

Spectacle

, it is the

i-prised in

and most

trembled

and old,
I coolness
lumstance
oh as we
man from
associate,
limself by
V^gain, the
h, and, in
fcheir hus-
of Cawn-
d women,

read the
nth. them,
t gratifies
iimiliation
h of Octo-
ole people
cy. Such
olting and
to furnish
conviction

)F LOED

liamentary
I England.

pretended
iig the re-
Igment on
the futiiud

35

of that empire which I myself am far from sharing. I merely wished
to m\(i expression to my own impressions respecting a class of facts
and ideas to which it is impossible not to pay attention whuu one is
intere.sted in the destinies of libei-ty and justice here below. For
the rest they will serve to explain the disposition with which I assisted
at the principal Parliamentary debate on the subject of India during
the last session.

It was the first week in May. Two months had hardly passed
since the advent of the new Ministry jjresided over by Lord Derby,
and the fall, unforeseen as it was, of Lord Palmerston, The causes
of these events are known. To the sentiment of universal horror
excited in England, as everywhere else, by the execrable attempt of
the 14th of January, a violent irritation had succeeded, pnjduced by
the steps taken by the French Government, and by certain addresses
published in the Moniteur, which seemed to consider English society,
where there is no political police, responsible for the preparations of
a crime which not all the power and vigilance of the French police
were able to prevent. The Government of Louis Pliilippe might
with just as good a grace have held England responsible in 1840 for
the BoiUogne expedition. We can speak the more freely of this
occurrence, ina.smuch as our Government, with a wisdom which does
it honor, has since spontaneously ceased to insist on the points which
had therefore occupied its attention. The right of free asylum is
regarded by the English people as one of its national glories ; and
that people is, of all others, the least inclined to sacrifice a right on
account of the abuse which its exercise may sometimes occasion.
Besides, Frenchmen of every shade of opinion, and of all parties,
have availed themselves of that right in the course of the numerous
revolutions which have distracted modem France ; the different dy-
nasties that have reigned in France have availed themselves of it, and
the reigning Sovereign has to a greater extent than any one. Hence,
people felt in no way obliged to Lord Palmerston and his colleagues
for the species of condescension with which they replied to Imperial
requirements. The old war-cry during the struggles of the English
Crown with the Papacy of the middle ages resounded throughout the
country — Nolumus leges Anglice mutari. Although the House of
Commons would have approved by its vote the principle of the bill
(otherwise perfectly reasonable and legitimate) intended to facilitate
the application of legal punislunent in the instance of principal of-
fenders and their accomplices in crimes committed abroad, that
assembly coidd not resist the current of public opinion, and on the
19th of February it adopted a vote of censure against the manner of
conducting the diplomatic relations between the two countries.
Under the weight of this solemn censure Lord Palmerston was obliged
to resign with all his colleagues.

22. Causes which led to Lord Palmerston' s Fall. — Analysis of' his
Political Character and Career.

But it would be to deceive ourselves sadly if we sought in this
ephemeral diflference between France and England the true cause of
the fall of a Ministry which had enjoyed till the a popularity so

Il'li

36

long-continued and so powerful. Those causes must be traced higher,
and are more honorable, and r.t the same time, more natural. With
this ancient and deep seated popularity, after a great war speedily
and successfully terminated under his auspices, after a recent disso-
lution of the House of Commons had declared for him on the Chinese
question against the formidable league of his adversaries, and put
him at the head of a greater majority than ever, he might well have
been considered secure in the possession of power for years to come.
But the height which he had reached seemed to have made him dizzy.
Long a circumspect coiui;ier of public opinion and of its caprices,
one would have said that he suddenly thought himself free thence-
forth to disdain, and even to brave it. Although he would have
always succeeded in obtaining the support of a majority in the Com-
mons for his foreign policy, he had not the less excited in a great
number of liberal and sensible minds a lively and increasing antipa-
thy for a teasing and blustering policy, equally without dignity and
logic, at one time affecting a zeal for liberty which did not recoil
before a revolutionary sentiment, at another adoring and adulating
absolute monarchy — a policy which has certainly brought more ill on
the good name of England than all the insults of her detractors. To
those causes of discontent, so justly provoked by his foreign pohcy^
others were not wanting, produced by his disdainful indifference to
the greater number of internal reforms interesting to new parties.
As happens too frequently to statesmen grown old in the exercise of
power, he had grown accustomed to d^pense with the services of
every superior merit but his own, to surround himself with honest
and docile mediocrities, and imagined that the quantity of his ad-
herents woidd always compensate for their quality. He hardly ever
conferred office on any who were not members of a family clique or
a clan of which the public had long been tired, and which the Pre-
mier seemed to take pleasure in circmnscribing more and more every
day. Lastly, he had thrown open the Cabinet to a personage whose
moral reputation had been compromised, whether wrongly or rightly,
and this nomination had aroused quite a storm among the mid(Ue
classes, growing more and more susceptible on this point. In fine,
that constant good hiunor, the jovial cordiality, that gaiety of high
and refined society, which he dazzles and fascinates in private life,
and which rendered him so many services in the most critical debates,
seemed in their turn to abandon him. One would have said, that
he took a pleasure in irritating his adversaries and rendering his
friends uneasy by the arrogant and sarcastic tone of his replies to
questions in the House of Commons. It is said that nothing has more
contributed to increase the majority which unexpectedly arrayed
itself against him than the contemptuous irony with which he met,
some days before the vote of censure, the question of Mr. Stirling res-
pecting the famous legacy of the Emperor Napoleon I, to Cantillon,
who had attempted to assassinate the Duke of Wellington. AU these
causes, great and little put together, ended by diminishing and
shaking the ascendancy which Lord Palmerston had conquer^, by
his rare capacity, his indefatigable ardor, his eternal youth, and
incontestible patriotism. Without eveiything in this commanding

' •*--*" »-'**'^"A,- ^ .

sed higher,
tral. With
ir speedily
cent disso-
he Chinese
8, and put
f; well have
ra to come,
him dizzy,
s caprices,
cee thence-
(Toiild have
I the Com-
l in a great
ing antipa-
lignity and
not recoil
i adulating
more ill on
:actors. To
sign jwlicy,.
[iilerence ta
lew parties,
exercise of
! services of
dth honest
^ of his ad-
hardly ever
ly clique or
Lch the Pre-
more every
>nage whoso
y or rightly,
; the middle
it. In fine,
ety of hign
private life,
ical debates,
'6 said, that
endering his
is replies to
ing has more
sdly arrayed
lich he met,
Stirling res-
)o Cantillon,
n. AU these
inishing and
nquered, by
youth, and
commanding

37

portion seemed sound and imimpaired ; it was, however, undermin-
ed in the opinion of many ; an unforeseen and sudden shock sufficed
to crumble it. The circumstances which I am about to recount have
rendered this ruin much more complete and more enduring than it
at first appeared to be.

23. TJie New Cabinet, Us Personnel. — The Whig Onslaught.

In fact, neither Lord Palmerston nor the public believed that the
defeat was decisive. Lord Derby had been charged with the mission
of forming a new Cabinet, in his capacity of head of that old Con-
servative party which has never recovered from the blows inflicted
by its own hands when it refused to follow Sir Robert Peel in the
paths of legitimate progress, and which has not since been able to
constitute a majority, either in the country or in the House. But
Lord Derby was at the head of a staflF which had already worked,
with more or less success, in 1852, and which he was careful to rein-
force with younger, more active, and more intelligent men, so as to
display an array of battle more brilliant and more imposing than the
rai^s of the somewhat used-up colleagues of Lord Palmerston.

Side by side with powerful orators, such as Mr. Disraeli and Lord
EUenborough, and with laborious and popular administrators, such
as Sir John Pakington and Mr. Walpole, was seen shining Lord
Stanley, the youthful son of the Earl of Derby, whom all parties
seem agreed to salute as the future and popular chief of a great new
party and of a conciliatory and energetic Ministry. However, despite
the somewhat lucky <Uhut of the new Ministry, its existence covdd
not be looked upon as certain. Only two-thirds of the majority which
had overthrown Lord Palmerston consisted of the partisans of Lord
Derby ; the remaining third party comprised, besides the briUiant
but numerically insignificant names of the Peelites, all the indepen-
dent Liberals, and above all, the Radicals, far more advanced in
their political opinions than the commonplace Whigs of Lord Pal-
merston's army, and still more than the Tories ranged behind Lord
Derby. Such a majority might very well sustain during some time
a Government the work of its vote, but promised no durable sup-
port. Lord Palmerston and his friends reckoned on the speedy dis-
sensions and lassitude which such a situation could not fail to
engender. They only waited for a favorable opportunity to fall into
line once more, and to win back a position temporarily lost by errors
which might easily be repaired, and which they would know how to
fortify by profiting by the lesson which they had received. This
opportunity was not slow in presenting itself under as brilliant and
favorable circumstances as possible.

24. Or and assault on the Indian policy of the Derby Cabinet— Cle-
niency Froclamation of Lord Canning. — Sensation caused by it.

Lucknow, the .capital of the kindom of Oude, had just yielded to
British arms. The attention of England had for a long time been
fixed on that great city, where 600 Englishmen and 200 Englishwo,-
men, besieged in a palace hardly furnished with mere battlements by

38

60,000 ciit-throats, and by a hostile population of 51,000 in number,
haH furnished during four months an example of courage as heroic
and more successful than that of the defenders of Saragossa. De-
livered by Havelock, they were not able to keep possession of the
fortress immortalized by their valor, and it was necessary that a
fresh army under the command of Sir Colin Campbell, should snatch
from the insurgents a city which was at once a fortress and the capi-
tal of the insurrection. The taking of Lucknow seemed necessarily
to bring about the submission of the entire kingdom of Oude, the
union of which to the territories imder the immediate sway of the
Company had been regarded as the principal cause of the insurrection,
thanks to the discontent with which that measure had filled the
mmds of the great number of the Sepoys, natives of that country,
and voluntarily enlisted into the Bengal army. To make sure of
that submission, Lord Canning, Governor General of India, thought
proper to publish a proclamation, bearing date the 14th of March,
1858, which pronounced under the title of annexation to British do-
minion, the pain of absolute confiscation of all property belonging
to the talookdars, to the chiefs, and landed proprietors of Oude,
with the exception of six, specially indicated, who had aided the
English authorities during the revolt. He reserved to himself the
faculty of restoring part or the entire of the property confiscated to
those who might give proof of a prompt submission, and lend their
energetic aid to the Government for the restoration of peace and
order.

Such an act was of a nature to wound deeply not only the inte-
rests of a native population of five millions of souls, but stiU more
the publio conscience of England, tardily but profoundly convinced
that the respect of the rights of property is the basis of every social
right. It was specially matter of wonder that such a document
should emanate frora Lord Canning, who, taken by surprise during
the second year of his administration by the explosion of a revolt
the most unforeseen and the most formidable that had ever broken
out against a foreign rule, till then had shown himself equal to the
terrible diflSculties of his situation, and had resisted with the most
noble and Christian constancy, the sanguinary incitements of the
English residents in Calcutta against the rebels and the Hindoos in
general. The Anglo-Indian press, exasperated by the inflexible
moderation of the Governor General, had bestowed upon him the
sobriquet of " Clemency Canning. " And this was the man who
now decreed, against a people en nmsse, this chastisement, as impo-
litic as it was excessive, as iniquitous by reason of its universal appli-
cation as by its faculty of smiting the posterity of the guilty and
the innocent alike.

Hence, hardly was the proclamation known in London, than it
excited a general sensation, which found vent in the shape of a ques-
tion addressed on the very day of its publication (6th May) by Mr.
Bright, to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mt, Disraeli. The
latter replied that the Government had already conveyed to Lord
Canning its formal and total disapproval of the measure m question.
Now, two days after public attention was attracted anew to the pub-

89

n number,
e as heroio
ossa. De-
ion of the
aiy that a
)uld snatch
d the capi-
necessanly

Oude, the
way of the
snrrection,

filled the
it country,
ake sure of
ia, thought
of March,
British do-
j belonging
*8 of Oude,
. aided the
himself the
nfiscated to

lend their
. peace and

y the inte-
it still more
y convinced
every social
I document
arise during

of a revolt
ever broken
jqual to the
th the most
lenta of the
Hindoos in
e inflexible
ton him the
) man who
it, as impo-
^ersal appli-

gtiilty and

Ion, than it
)eof aques-
[ay) by Mr.
iraeli. The
i^ed to Lord
n question,
to the pub-

lication in a London newspaper of a still stranger and more startling
document. This was the dispatch in which the Earl of EUenborough
President of the Board of Control — ^that is, Minister of the Depart-
ment of Indian Aflairs — had, so far back as the 19th of April, signi-
fied to the Governor General the solemn censiu-e of the Home Gov-
ernment

25. Sketch of Lord EUenborough* s career. — His famous Despatch.

Lord EUenborough, who had been formerly Governor-General of
India, where he had signalized himself by the conquest of the vast
province of Scinde and Gwalior, was dismissed by the Directors of
the East India Company, whom his too ardent zeal and intemperate
official language had alarmed. This, I believe, is the sole example
of the exercise of the supreme vote by the Company, which pos-
sessed the right of having recourse to it in order to cancel the ap-
pointment of the Governor General of India, whose nomination
since 1784 lay with the Crown. A rival of Lord Derby in oratorical
talent, and one of the most considerable personages of his Ministry,
Lord EUenborough has always practiced an independence in his pro-
ceedings and a vehemence of language which have rendered him as
redoubtable to his friends as to his enemies. Those who have had the
good fortune to meet him in society, in the presence of Lord Canning
are in a position to state that never was contrast more complete than
that between the character and bearing of the two Governors-Gene-
ral. They both belong to history, which has rarely registered a
more significant document than the communication addressed by
one of them to the other, as follows : —

** The authoritative expression of the will of the Government in the pro-
clamation informs the people that six persons who are named as having
been steadfast in their allegiance are henceforward the sole hereditary pro-
prietors of the lauds they held when Oude came under British rule, subject
only to such moderate assessment as maybe imposed upon 'them; that
others in whose favour like claims may be established will have conferred
upon them a proportionate measure of reward and honour ; and that, with
these exceptions, the proprietary right in the soil of the province is confis-
cated to the British Government.

" We cannot but express to you our apprehension that this decree, pro-
nouncing the disinheritatiou of a people, will throw difficulties almost insnr-
mountable in the way of the re-establishment of peace.

" We are under the impression that the war in Oude has derived much
of its popular character from the rigorous manner in which, without regard
to what the chief landholders had become accustomed to consider as their
rights, the summary nettlement had in a large portion of the province been
carried out by your officers.

" The landholders of India are as much attached to the soil occupied by
their ancestors, and are as sensitive with respect to the right-? in the soil
they deem themselves to possess, as the occupiers of land in any country
of which we have a knowledge.

" Whatever may be your ultimate and undisclosed intentions, your pro-
clamation will appear to deprive the great body of the people of all hope
upon the subject most dear to them as individuals ; while the substitution
of our rule for that of their native sovereign has naturally excited against
us whatever they may have of a national feeling.

40

Then in a series of paragraphs, which do not seem intended for
publication, the Minister censures, without circumlocution, the
annexation of Oude, effected by the English Government under Lord
Dalhousie, as well as the fiscal measures which followed the incorpo-
ration of the kingdom. He concludes from that measui'e that the
revolt in Oude possesses the character of a legitimate and regular
war rather than of a rebellion, and, consequently, that the inhabi-
tants of that country ought to be treated with indulgence rather
than be rendered amenable to the most rigorous punishment that
can be inflicted on a conquered people. The despatch concludes
thus :-^—

" We must admit that, under the circumstances, the hostilities which
have been carried on in Oude have rather the character of legitimate war
than that of rebellion, and that the people of Oude should rather be regarded
with indulgent consideration than made the objects of a penalty exceeding
in extent and in severity almost any which has been recorded in history as
inflicted upon a subdued nation.

" Other conquerors, when they have succeeded in overcomiDg resistance
have excepted a few persons as still deserving of punishment, but have,
with a generous policy, extended their clemency to the great body of the
people.

" You have acted upon a different principle ; you have reserved a few as
deserving of special favour, and you have struck, with what they will feel
as the severest of punishment, the mass of the inhabitants of the country.

•' We cannot but think that the precedents from which you have departed
will appear to have been conceived in a spirit of wisdom superior to that
which appears in the precedent you have made.

" We desire that you will mitigate in practice the stringent severity of
the decree of confiscation you have issued against the landholders of Oude.

" We desire to see British authority in India rest upon the willing obe-
dience of a contented people. There cannot be contentment where there
is general confiscation.

" Government cannot long be maintained by any force in a country where
the whole people is rendered hostile by a sense of wrong, and if it were
possible so to maintain it, it would not be a consummation to be desired,"

History, I am convinced, wiU side with the author of these noble
words, and will add that the statesman to whom they were addressed
was capable of understanding and giving effect to them. But politics
are not always at one with history, and justice itself required that
this solitary and memorable reprimand should not be forwarded to
its destination — above all, that it should not be published — before
the high functionary therein accused could justify or explain his
conduct. Hence a sudden explosion of astonishment and discontent.
Every one understood that it was at least highly imprudent thus to
disavow, during the continuance of the war in Oude, the entire ante-
cedent poUcy respecting the cotmtry, and to paralyze, by a disap-
proval in a public form, the authority of the chief representative of
British power in India. The public, also, was oftended by the
haughty and somewhat pompous style of Lord EUenborough's cen-
Biu'es, the antipodes of the simple and matter-of-fact tenor of
English official docmnents. This circumstance greatly contributed
to excite the public mind against the author of the despatch.

41

Inded for
lion, the
fderLoid
incorpo-
|that the
regular
inhabi-
36 rather
iient that
poncludes

[ies which

late war

regarded

exceeding

history as

resistance
but have,
»dy of the

d a few as
^ will feel
J country,
i departed
'or to that

severity of
i of Oude.
Uing obti-
lere there

try where
f it were
desired,"

ise noble
addressed
t politics
red that
arded to
— before
>lain his
content,
thus to
ire ante-
3. disap-
ative of
by the
h's cen-
enor of
;ributed

26. Preparations for the great contest. — Party Tactics — new and wn*
expected Episode. — Chivalrous retirement of Lord Ellenhorough.

Immediately Lord Palmerston and his friends recognised that the
occasion was timely for taking the oflFensive, and for giving battle to
the new Ministry, the issue of which could not fail to restore to less
imprudent and steadier hands a power so str^gely brought into
danger. A natural feeling of vexation at their recent defeat, and an
ambition equally natural to old statesmen who are sustained by a
great party, suffice, at need, to explain their eagerness ; but no one
has a right to believe that they were not guided, in addition, by a
more elevated and more disinterested sentiment, or that the desire
to save British India from danger and evil, increased in a twofold
degree, did not influence the great number of the chiefs, and, above
all, of the soldiers of the Opposition. Be that as it may, the signal
for a decisive campaign in both Houses of Parliament was given. On
Sunday, the 9th of May, Lord Palmerston assembled all his parti-
sans at a preliminary meeting held at Cambridge-House, his private
residence. Lord John Russell, his predecessor and rival, the ever
respected head of the old Reform party, at variance with him ever
since the negotiations at Vienna, in 1855, and whose neutrality served
to cover the Derby Ministry, promised his support. The day was
fixed for the attack and officially announced to Parliament, the r^les
of the principal actors in the assault assigned and sttidied, the chan-
ces of victory and its probable consequences made the most of.
Everything announced the certain defeat of Government, when a
new episode suddenly changed the face of affairs.

Lord Ellenborough, instructed by the storm of opinion as to the
nature of the error he had committed in publishing his despatch, con-
ceived the generous idea of accepting for himself alone the responsi-
bility and the punishment of that error. Without even communi-
cating with his colleagues he gave in his resignation to the Queen,
and he informed the House of Lords, on the 11th of May, of the step
he had taken in language too noble not to merit quotation.

" I know well that, be the public importance of a question what it
may, and no matter how great may be the interests involved in it, personal
considerations but too much sway the decisions of both Houses of Parlia-
ment. I have determined, therefore, to remove those personal considera-
tions. I am resolved that this question shall be considered on its merits;
and. determinin/ to do everything I can to the la^t moment of my life for
the benefit and peace of India, I have tendered to Her Majesty my resigna*
tioD, and it has been accepted."

A sacrifice made up so spontaneously, and with so much dignity,
ought naturally to have had for effect the mitigation of public opi-
nion ; but the Whigs (by this term we designate, for sake of brevity,
the different members of Parliament who side with Lord Palmerston
and Lord John Russell) had too artfully combined their plan of
attack to think of abandoning it so easily. The occasion appeared to
them too good, and too unlikely to occur again, not to profit by it,
and not to endeavor to snatch the direction of public affairs from a
cabinet already dislocated, and which existed only by a sufferance on

I ^-1.

42

the part of a majority of which it was not the legitimate represen-
tative.

Two hundred members of Parliament, assembled a second time at
Lord Palmerston's residence, pledged themselves to support a resolu-
tion expressive of a vote of censure against the Ministry. The
combat, which had been announced beforehand, took place on the
14th of May.

28.

CHAPTER V. — ^The Great Debate in Parliament on India.

I. IN THE house of LORDS.

27. Lord Shaftesbun/s motion. — Impressive scene in the House of
Lords. — Despatch of the Earl of Elknhorough. — The Ministerial
and Opposition Peers.

In the House of Lords the vote of censure was brought forward
by the Earl of Shaftesbury, son-in-law o^ Lady Pabnerston, long
known for his zeal for the interests of religion, and for those of the
various charitable associations in connection with the Church of
England. The illustrious House had never been so full or so ani-
mated ; a more numerous crowd of strangers had never thronged
the vicinity of the imposing and magnificent hall ; a more brilliant
galaxy of peeresses had never before filled the gallery where stand
the statues of the Barons who signed Magna Charta. The resolu-
tion proposed by Lord Shaftesbury was drawn up with prudent
reserve. It did not imply in any manner approval of the confisca-
tion decreed by Lord Canning, and left full scope to the House to
reserve its judgment on that point till it might be informed of the
motives for the act ; but it formally condemned the premature
publication of Lord iSUenborough's despatch, as tending to weaken
the Governor General's authority, and to encourage the rebels.
The mover of the resolution developed it with moderation ; it was
supported, among other speakers, by the Duke of Somerset, Argyll,
and Newcastle. It is gratifying to see those great names, which
figure in the feudal, political, and military history of England, thus
reappear and keep their place at the head of the interests of a people
completely free and of a society so profoundly transformed. After
them, and according to the custom of England which reserves the last
word during the debate to the leaders of party, or of the Government,
the thesis of the Opposition was resumed by Lord Granville, who
had been President of the Privy Council and leader of the Upper
House imder the Palmerston Ministry, and who was so well fitted
to fin that part by the graces of his diction, and the conciliating cor-
diality of his disposition. All these speakers, alive, as they were,
to the damage done to their cause by the resignation of Lord Ellen-
borough, vied with each other in insisting on the principle of the
collective and absolute solidarity of the Cabinet, and contended that
it was not permitted to a Ministry to get rid, by the sacrifice of one
or more of its members, of the responsibility of an error once com-
mitted and recognized as such.

e represen-

ond time at
rt a resolu-
istry. The
lace on the

ON India.

Souse of
Ministerial

;ht forward
rston, long
lose of the
Church of
1 or so ani-
T thronged
re brilliant
-here stand
rhe resolu-
;h prudent
le confisca-
B House to
ned of the
premature
to weaken
;he rebels,
on ; it was
Bt, Argyll,
aes, which
land, thus
»f a people
id. After
es the last
i^emment,
ville, who
he Upper
^ell fitted
ating cor-
liey were,
rd Ellen-
►le of the
ided that
36 of one
nee com-

43

28. Arguments of the Opposition Peers. — Noble Ref/ard for Lord
Canning. — Lord Ellenhorouffh's Sjiecch. — Lord Derby's sarcasm.

A Government, they argued, is one, homogeneous, and indivisible,
and the privilege of chosing a scapegoat cannot be accorded to it.
While listening to them my mind wais struck by the danger of those
abstract, absolute, out-and-out theories which glide into the discus-
sions usual under free Governments, under cover of a party or
momentary interest, and which, little by little, come to be erected
into indisputable dogmas. Nothing, in my opinion, is better calcu-
lated to weaken and bring into discredit the representative system,
already sufficiently complicated and sufficiently difficult to keep in
equilibrium, as, indeed, are all those symptoms special to societies
which stand up for the maintenance of the rights of intelligence.
It is to the detractors, and not to the partisans of free institutions,
or to those who work them, that ought to be abandoned the task of
deducing such chimerical embarrassments from a false logic. I un-
derstood better, and was more gratified by the testimony of lively
and affectionate interest which every one bore to the honor and fair
renown of Lord Canning. There was something touching and highly
equitable in this prepossession in favor of an absent brother, par-
ticularly as he was at a distance of 15,000 miles from his country,
charged with the care of governing so many millions of men — a
statesman whose courage, wisdom and humanity had reflected honor
on the office he filled, and wliich is certainly the most important
which can be confided, at the present day, by a free people to the
hands of men. Son of the great orator who was Prime Minister
under George IV. , the contemporary and rival of our o\m Chateau-
briand, he has shown himself worthy of bearing his father's name :
and every one instinctively shared the sentiment which animate his
friends, when they said to the Government, " It is your right and
your duty to recall him if he has done wrong ; but it is not lawful
for you to aim a blow at his honor and his dignity before he should
be able to afford an explanation to the country, still imder the in-
flnence of gratitude for his services."

No one among the Ministerial speakers thought for a moment of
disputing Lord Canning's services ; but Lord EUenborough, disem-
barrassed of all apprehension of compromising his colleagues, took up
the question anew, in its true bearings, with his usual energy and
eloquence. If the publication of the despatch was an offence, he
alone was accountable, as his colleagues had known nothing of it,
and, no longer being a member of the Cabinet, there remained, as
far as he was concerned, nothing more to be said or done in reference
to that point. But the despatch in itself was salutary and necessary.

" I felt and I still feel (said the Earl) that despatch is a message of
peace to the people of India; I hold that it lays down principles which,
if not so laid down, never would have been generally adopted throughout
that country ; I know that it will offer conciliation to those who dread
retribution — that it will compel all in office to act in the spirit of the
Government by which that letter was sent out, ond, therefore, for th*> public
peace, I desired that that letter should go forth. (Hear.) But I take to
myself the whole responsibility of having given publicity to the letter, I

j-;;

t?' 'Mr

44

know it was right to do so, and I did it at once. I might very properly,
no doubt, have taken the letter to the Cabinet, and in the Cal)iuet have
asked the opinions of my colleagnea before deciding to make it public.
That might have been the right course (hoar, hear), but that course I did
not adopt; and, therefore, to accuse my colleagues of any mipconduct with
respect to the publication of that letter is to raise a constitutional fiction.
I am responsible, and let me alone bear whatever censure may be attri*
buted to the act of publication. I thought this explanation to be due to
my noble colleagues in this House, and to my right hon. friends in the other
House of Parliament ; but now I have to consider, under these circum-
ptances, what is my duty not only to my colleagues, but to the people of
India. I have served the people of India as much out of office aa in ofEce
for nearly 30 years. The moat earnest endeavours of my public life have
been used with a view to their benefit, and I will not do any act towards the
close of (hat pubiic life which by any possibility might injure their interests.
This question will be differently construed in this country and in India.
Here it ia a question between one party and another. (Cheers ) Here it
is more a question whether my noble fri»nd near me should remain in ofHce,
or whether .v e should submit to th t to which we have an intuitive dislike—
the restoration. (Hear, hear.) This is the real practical question to be
brought under the consideration of this and the other House of Parliament.
(Cheers.) The question in India is a very different question. Th ques-
tion there will be understood to be the conflicting principles of conflscatioD
and clemency (hear, hear) ; and I feel satisfied that, according as the deci-
sion of this and the other House of Parliament may appear to incline to one
or the other of those principles, there will be sown broadcast throughout
India the seeds of perpetual war, or hopes will be given to the people of
India and of England — the hopes of permanent reconciliation and peace."
(Hear, hear.)

The Premier, the Earl of Derby, although rendering homage to
the character and services of Lord Canning, and stating that the
Government was a complete stranger to the premature publication
of Lord Ellenborough's despatch, was not the less as explicit as
possible in his adhesion to the doctrines of the latter on the subject
of the confiscation, and on that of the system suitable to be adopted
towards the Indian population. "The question lies," said he, " be-
tween pardon and confiscation in a country where every landowner
is a soldier, and every soldier a landowner. We incUne to pardon.
If you condemn us, England will not have a sufficient number of
troops to restore security to British rule in India." In the speech
of the noble lord, who, as is well known, has a leaning for the em-
ployment of personal and sarcastic arguments against his adversaries,
we remark a feature of manners purely Engush. He considered
himself at liberty to reproach the reUgious Lord Shaftesbuiy with
having made himself the organ of a meeting of Members of Parlia-
ment, held at his brother-in-law's the Sunday preceding, which thus,
according to Lord Derby, *' had not been exclusively consecrated to
religious occupations." Lord Shaftesburj- considered himself so
compromised by this reproach that he thought 1 . 3lf called upon
to address to the newspapers an exact account of the manner in
which he spent his Sunday, during which the frequent repetition of
Hturgical occupations did not leave him an instant for recreation so
profane as that in which he was believed to have been guilty of in-
dulging.

At

r properly,
ibiuet have
it public,
onrse I did
ndtict with
•Dal fiction,
y be attri-
be due to
n tbe other
(se circum-
people of
as in ofBce
c life have
owards the
r interests.
1 in India.
) Here it
in in office,
B dislike —
ition to be
arliamcDt.
Th ques-
onfiscation
s the deci-
line to one
hroughout
people of
ad peace."

^raage to
that the
iblication
:plicit as
I subject
adopted
le, "be-
ndowner
pardon,
luber of
J speech
the em-
ersaries,
asidered
17 with
Parlia-
3h thus,
ated to
as3lf so
d upon
iner in
tion of
tion so
of in-

45

29. Significant Vote of the Peers. — Narrow majority for and fears of
the Oovernnient. — False predictions of the Opposition Press.

At two o'clock in the morning the House divided. Up to the last
moment the result seemed doubtful, but, after the votes had been
counted — not only those of all the peers present, but those also of
the absent, who, from a singular respect for individual right, have
the privilege of voting by proxy — it was ascertained that the vote of
censure against the Govormnent had been rejected by 107 votes
against 158.

This feeble majority of nine in an Assembly where the Conserva-
tive party, of wliich Lord Derby is the recognised chief, has always
preponderated, sufficiently indicated the extreme danger which the
Administration had encountered. A victory won with such difficulty
in that House, where it thought itself sure of a majority, presaged
an almost certain defeat in that of which but two-fifths at most
recognised him for leader. Far from being discouraged by the issue
of this first engagement, Lord Palmerston's army saw in it only the
first signal of a success the results of wliich it already anticipated.
The most careful calculations as to the issue of the debate indicated
a majority varying from fifty to eighty votes, wliich, according to
the antecedents or the supposed predilections of the difierent mem-
bers of the House of Commons, should, at one and the same time,
restore Lord Canning's compromised authority and avenge Lord
Palmerston's recent defeat, by renewing against his successors an
attack in the nature of a vote of censure, to wliich he himself had
succumbed three months previously. " Before a week," declared
with confidence the newspapers which supported the former Ministry,
energetically seconded by the vehement attacks of The Times, " be-
fore a week the Derby Ministry will have ceased to exist." All this
time the people lost sight, amid these hypothetical calculations, of the
eventual dispositions of a new party, which, under the name of Inde-
pendent Liberals, had gradually eliminated itself from the ranks of the
Whig and old Reform parties, which yielded with too great docility
to the supremacy of Lord Palmerston. Towards this party gravitated
more and more not only those timid minds floating doubtfully be-
tween two opinions, which every assembly contains within it, but
in addition, a notable fraction of the ancient disciples and colleagues
of Sir Robert Peel, and at least half of the Irish Catholic members,
justly irritated at the carelessness and hostility of the great Whig
leaders towards the interests of their country and their religion.
The outsiders agitated and combined together on their side, on the
approach of the decisive conflict ; and their newspapers caused it to
be sufficiently understood that their support was not assured to the
plans of the Opposition without requital.

30. Frankness in English Official Affairs. — Absence of Intrigue.--^
Effect of the Debate. — Absence of personal hostility or bitterness on
the part of Members of the House characteristic of English politicians.
For the rest, in these preliminary agitations, as also in official

deliberations, everything passes in open day, with a frankness and
absence of constraint that nothing altera. It ia evident that plots or

46

intrigtios are not in question, but honorable and legitimate stniggles
which the entire public ought at once to witness and participate in.
It is not merely a knot of political men, it is the whole nation whom
these struggles divide and animate. Parliament, as Well as the
press, high circles and the mass of society, spectators aiid actors, are
simultaneously earned along by, and eciually interested in, them.
Political life circulates everywhere ; eveiywhere we see come to light
the opinion of a great conun\mity of free and enlightened men, who
deliberate, directly or indirectly, on the interests proposed to occupy
their attention ; who do not think that others can do their business
for them better than they can do it for themselves, and in no way
understand that an external Power should take upon itself to govern
for them, among them, and without them. But if these questions
excite everyone, they emb:' fcter no one. Here, as elsewhere, I can
record, over and over again, in how great a degree the reciprocal
courtesy of parties and individuals survives and resists the asperities
of politics. First, intentions and plans of attack are frankly com-
municated, and even the papers which are to ser"e as the grounds or
pretext for discussion ; all tactics based on a stealthy surprise, or
supported by masked batteries, would be set at nought by an unani-
mous outburst of opinion from all parties. Moreover, the most de-
clared adversaries, the bitterest rivals, make it a point of honor not
to carry into private and social life the hostilities of public life.
People often say to one another the most disagreeable and personal
things across the floor of the House of Lords, or the House of Com-
mons, exaggerated accusations are launched, and pleasantry is piti-
less ; but those same people meet in the same drawing-room or dine
together in the evening. In fact they are sticklers, before all things,
for remaining always gentlemen, people in society and of the same
society, and for avoiding to poison one's entire existence by the
animosity of an ephemeral conflict. It was not so in France, it will
be remembered, when public life reigned and agitated our minds.
What can be the cause of this difference 1 The fact, doubtless, that
at bottom every one is of one way of thinking in England, not
only on the fundamental questions of the constitution of the social
organization, but, moreover, on the conditions and consequences of
the struggles of each day.

The strife is ardent, even passionate, but the prize of victory and
the issue of the combat do not change in any way whereon the battle
is fought, or the conquests definitely obtained for all. The tempo-
rary possession of power is disputed, the triumph of a question or
opinion is hotly pressed for, but no one thinks of imposing, nolens
voUns, that opinion on his adversaries, or even on his neighboius, on
pain of exile from pubUc life, and condemnation to nothingness if
they have the boldness not to suffer themselves to be convinced or
intimidated.

II. DEBATE IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

31. First Day. — Mr. CardwelVs motion. — BriUicmt DehM of Sir
Hugh Cairns. — Mr. Vernon Smith's conduct contrasted with that of
Lord Clarendon. — Lord J. BusseU. — The Times. — Opposition hopes.
The vote of censure moved in the House of Commons was drawn

up with the same prudence as that in the House of Lords. It did not

47

stniggles
nptito in.
iou wliom
11 as the
ctors, are
n, them.
10 to light
nen, who

10 occupy
business

I no way
to govern
rjuestions
[•e, I can
'eciprocal
asperities
kly com-
founds or
prise, or
m unani-
raost de-
onor not
blic life,
personal
of Com-
y is piti-
i or dine

11 things,
he same
B by the
se, it will
p minds.
less, that
and, not
he social
lences of

;ory and
be battle
tempo-
stion or
r, nolens
ours, on
gness if
inced or

of Sir
h, that of
n hopes.

1 drawn
did not

constitute an approval of Lord Canning's proclamation, but a direct
and formal di.saj>i)roval of the sentence pu»noiinccd by the Govern-
ment against that act. Its proposer was Mr. CurdwtU, one of the
most distinguished members of the Peelito pai-ty, a faithfid and
devoted friend of Lord Canning, univei-sally looked up to, whom his
position and antecedents did not suffer to be regardttd as subject to
the preponderating influence of Lord Palmerston, or as cai)able of
sacrificing a moral and national interest to party spirit. The first
day of the delmte (the 14th of May) presented nothing remarkable,
except the brilliant debut of a Ministerial orator, Sir Hugh Cairns,
the Solicitor General, one of the new men of lil)erul stamp with
whom Lord Derby has had the tact to strengthen his Ministry. He
sought to demonstrate that, the debate once opened, it was impos-
sible to abstain, as the Opposition wished to be done, from calling in
question the measure adopted by Lord Canning. If that measure
were wise and just, how came it to pass that the Opposition refused
to approve Hi If it were not, why make it a ground of accusation
against the Goveniment for having censured it ? When people have
not the courage to approve the confiscation, they ought at least to
abstain from blaming those who condemn it. The Government, for
one thing, has its settled conviction, and openly declares it ; its
adversaries have none, or, having, do not dare to express it. Becom-
inff the aggressor, in turn, he smartly reproaches Mr. Vernon Smith,
Minister for India under Lord Palmerston, and Lord EUenborough's
predecessor, with not having communicated to the latter a private
letter addressed to him by Lord Canning, under the belief that he
was still in office, in which he informed him of his (Lord Can-
ning's) intention to publish his proclamation. The constant and
iiatural usage requires that the outgoing Ministers should communi-
cate, without exception, to their successors, all documents which
may reach their hands subsequently to their retirement. Lord
Clarendon had so acted, quite recently, in the case of Lord Malmes-
bury. In forsaking this customary com'se Mr. Vernon Smith had
deeply oft'ended public opinion, and caused a great deal of recrimina-
tion within and without the walls of Parliament ; and although the
letter in itself did not really contain anything of importance, the
malevolent and derisive manner with which the explanations which
he had been several times obliged to repeat respecting this matter
were received by the House must have presented to the minds of
attentive observers the first symptom of a break-up among the
majority, and of the ^-.certainty of the result so positively predicted.
It was in the course of this first debate, also, that Lord John Eussell
came forward to reinforce the Opposition by his important sufirage,
giving his support to the motion of censure, insisting on the solidarity
of the Government with the act of Lord Ellenborough ; on the
danger which that act was calculated to bring on the security of the
British possessions in India ; finally, on the luaoral force wliich would
result for his adversaries from the censure cast on the annexation of
Oude. Strengthened by so desirable an adhesion within the House
of Commons, and assured, without, of the still more efficacious sup-
port accruing from the circulation of the TimeSf the two-fold cause

48

!t^.:

of Lords Canning and Palinorston still liad ovory clianco of a speedy
and coniplutu m\iccush.

32. Second Daij. — Mr. Boefmck* s vehement frnnkiiesa. — His fallacious
maxiniH. — Effect of his Speech on Lord Palmerdon and tlui Houae.
-^Analysis of the other ifpeeches.

However, during the de})ate of the following day, (1 7th of May) a
menibur, who sits near Lord John Russell, rose to oi>p()se him ; in
his person tho fraction of the Independent Liberals wjis to make its
appearance in tlie discussion. This was Mr. Roehncit, one of tho
most lK)ld, most favorably heard, and most popularly eloquent
speakers in England. He it was who hail dealt such heavy blows to
the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston when the latter was in power,
and he now came foi^ward, once again, to endeavor to defeat the
noble lord's tactics and to counteract his plans. Mr. Roebuck falls
too often into error of compromising the success of his ideas and the
authority of his positions by enouncing opinions unreasonable in
substance, and further expressed with a degree of rigidity and exag-
geration which increase the repulsion they inspire. Ho did not take
the pains to abandon this regretable habit during the memorable
debate in question. Alluding to the BiU which had been brought
in, and the object of which ^"os to deprive the East India Company
of the government of Hindostan and to transfer it to the Crown, he
went so far as to say that the Crown was a chimera and signified in
reality the House of Commons, since the ehtire power attributed
to the Crown was virtually exercised by the House.

The doctrine was at once imprudent and inexact, for it is dange-
rous thus to condense, under the form of absolute maxims, the
gradual and qualified consequences of the development of liberty ;
and if the preponderance for centuries past of the House of Commons
is an incontestible fact, it is not the less false, on that account, to
say that the power of resistance of the House of Lords has been
annihilated and that the Crown does not possess an immense pres-
tige, and authority by so much more solid that it is reserved for
great occasions, and for solemn decisions. But Mr. Roebuck in
the course of his speech took high groimds and raised himself above
the vulgar preoccupations of a merely personal or national policy,
for no one had as yet approached the question with so much frank-
ness, no one had as yet signalized so exactly its importance, the
sacred character of the principles which it involved, and that the
danger of subordinating them to the party interests.

Mr. Roebuck, in addressing the Speaker, said, — " Sir, a question of more
importance was, perhaps, nevrer submitted for discussion in any legislative
assembly than that which uovr occupies the attention of this House. Sir,
Oibbon, in his History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
enters into a discussion on the probable capacity of that empire, and in
that magnificent resume whieh he gives of the power and importance of
the empire of Rome he says that the Italians and provincials taken to-
gether amounted to about 120,000,000, and he adds that that was the
largest community of men ever subject to any system of domination. But,
£Ur, our Indian empire leaves this far behind. There are not only 120,

40

f a speedy

I faUacioua
tl^ House.

of May) a
lu liim ; ill
o m»ke its
)ne of the
eloquent
y blows to

in power,
defeat the
jbuck falls
as and the
lonable in
and exag-
d not take
nemorable
n brought

Company
Orown, he
ignified in
attributed

; is dange-
bxims, the
f liberty ;
Commons
ccount, to

has been
ense pres-
served for
oebuck in
lelf above
lal policy,
ich frank-
tance, the

that the

on of more
legislative
ouse. Sir,
in Empire^
ire, and in
>ortaDce of
3 taken to-
t was the
ition. But,
only 120,

000,000, but I tLiiik the personii who are influoncod by our dominion in
India amount to ncurly 2()U,0i)0,()00, iind there is now nuhinitti'd to our
conHidenititm a question involving the happinc-Hg of thiH lar^^c Hcction <>f the
liumanruco; for wu have now to determinu whuther thi^ dominion ia to
be gtiiik'd by the great principles of honesty nnd virtue (ciieors), or wlielher
the power which wo exercise is to be the only ^uide of our conduct, nnd
'that tho object whicli we have in view in the solo nggrandizenient of
England. As an Englishman, I oaimot htdp feeling strongly for the domi-
nion, the happiness, and the power of my country ; still, there arc things
which in my mind are even greater than Enghind's importance, und one
of these is that mankind should learn to recognize nnii practise the ^Toat
principles of himour and virtue. At this prcnent moment there is involved
m our diucussiou thin important question — shall we, in the furthetnnce of
our doniiniou, for objects purely selfish, forget the great priueiples of virtue
and justice. Shall wo, in order to establish our dominion over what I may
call the defenceless people of India, be utterly regardless of that which civili-
zation ought to teach us to regard — shall we, I miy, pursue our own objects
without any consideration of the principles which ought to govern us as a

feoplo ? The motion made by the right hon. gentleman the other night i^,
think, one of the most transp ireut of partv manieuvres I have ever seen
(loud cheers), and I have seen many transactions of that sort. At the very
time when wo are so discussing this matter of the government of India
there comes before us a mere matter of party politics. (Cheers.) We
meet the happiness of 200,000,000 of men, and we reduce the question to
the consideration of this bench and that. (Renewed cheers, and " No, nol")
No, no 1 Is there any man, so utterly void of consideration of what is
going on around him and of what is being enacted before bis eyes — is
there any man so like a blind puppy (a laugh), as not to perceive that
what we are fi^'hting for now is not the happiness of India, but the govern-
ment of this country ? (Cheers.) But, Sir, let us, if we can, forget these
Earty politics ; let us, if we can, consider this question as affecting the
appitiess of 200,000,000 of human beings."

Be it said to the honor of the assembly in which these words were
pronounced with emotion, and with the eflfort of a speaker evidently
sufiering from ill health, that each of the foregoing sentences was
followed by energetic applause, and not a single mui'uiur betrayed
the susceptibilities of a disturbed or offended patriotism.

After having established and confirmed the distinction, akeady
annoimced by Lord Ellenborough, between the rebellion of the
Sepoys and the war in which the inhabitants of Oude had engaged,
he expatiates on the folly and criminality of the confiscation, and
thus siuns up his opinions :

" If you want to pacify India it will be by the course })ointed out in the
despatch of Lord Ellenb:>rough. It has been said that this despatch ought
to bo printed in letters of gold. Sir, I believe so. That was an honest
despatch ; and I do not know my own countrymen if tliey do not come to
the same conclusion. (Cheers.) I entreat my countrymen to remember
that there are things above party. If they are to consider mere party
moves I will ask them what they will get if the Government are in a
minority to night ? Why, a Government that we have cashiered lately
(loud cheers), because they neglected the honour of England. (Continued
cheering.) We are to allow hon. gentlemen on this side of the House,
after passing a few weeks in the cold regions of Opposition, to go in State
BcrpsB to that (the Treasury) bench. (Cheers.) And for what I Do th«

50

people of England expect any change in the policy of tlic late Govern^
ment ? If they do they are wofuUy deceived. Sir, I believe that good
government, that happiness for the people, that the advance of liberal*
measures, which we all desire, are more to 'be obtained from that weak
Government (pointing to the Treasury bench) than from the strong insolence'
of this."

And thereupon he pointed his finger, in the midst of applause, at
the bench where eat Lord Palmerston, impassive and serene, sur-
rounded by his ancient colleagues.

Several among tuese latter, and particularly Sir Comewall Lewis^
formerly Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Sir Charles Wood, for^
merly Lord of the Admiralty, made every effort, and not without
talent, to restore the question to the narrow ground from which
Mr. Roebuck's vehement frankness had diverted it. But I cannot
• find, with the best intention? to be impartial, anything in their
speeches worthy of being quoted. Like all the advocates of the-
votes of censure, they dwelt on the situation in which Lord Canning
had been placed, and on the ingratitude evinced towards a man who
had saved and reflected honour on British rule in India. Less re-
served than the resolution itself, they went so far as to defend the
Proclamation, in so far as the confiscation pronounced by it was,
according to them, only to be put in force, not against the mass of
the rural population, but againct rebel proprietors, whom violence
and ursurpation had put in possession of their estates. The Minis-
terial speakers maintained, on the contrary, that, besides the great
talookars and zemindars who represented the territorial aristocracy,
there existed in Oude a crowd of petty landed proprietors, using
alteniately the sword and the plough, and who evidently would be
affected, as well as the great feudatories, by the absorption of all
right of property in the domain of the State.

33. Young Sir Bobert Peel. — His teUing smartness. — Invective against
Lord Palmerston. — PeeVs advanced Liberalism.

It must be confessed that these contradictory but important de-
tails in the nature of information were less listened to than the
concentricities of young Sir Robert Peel, who ever since his entry
into public life has availed himself of the great name he bears to
arrogate the privilege of telling disagreeable truths to every one
with a smartness and absence of all ceremony, against which people
bear up with difficulty. On this occasion, however, his violent in-
vective against Lord Palmerston, whose subordinate he had long
been, in the career of diplomacy, and in the Administration did less
harm to his illustrious adversary than to himself ; but he was more
successful when he pointed out, without circumlocution, to the an-
tagonists of the Ministry, a danger which began to loom in the
horizon. This dan^^or lay in a dissolution of the House of Commons
an extreme measure, no doubt, coming so soon after the dissolution
which had so recently taken place, but which the Earl of Derby pos-
sessed the right of proposing to the Queen, in order to put the
coimtry in a position to decide between its policy and the hostile
majority in Parliament. In this respect Sir Robert Peel expressed

! Govern-'
hat good
)f liberaF
hat weak
iDsolence*

lause, ai
ne, sur-

1 LewiSy
)od, for-
without
n which
' cannot
in their
} of the-
IJanning^
nan who
Less re-
fend the
it was,
mass of
violence
5 Minis-
le great
kocracy,
s, using
ould be
1 of all

against

ant de-
lan the
s entry
tears to
iry one
people
ent in-
id long
iid less
IS more
the an-
in the
tumons
slution
3y pos-
ut the
hostile
)ressed

51

an apprehension which gained ground every day ; and he distinctly
announced, in the name of the advanced Liberalism which he pro-
fesses, the hope and the certainty of seeing the Liberal electors side
with the great principles of justice and humanity proclaimed in Lord
Ellenborough's despatch, rather than with the manoeuvres of a party
which sacrificed its principles to the feverish impatience of a resump-
tion of ofhce.

CHAPTER VL

THE "derby day" ON EPSOM DOWNS.

34. Singular Parliamentary Interruption. — Adjournment for the
Epsom, Races. — Lord Derby's horse Toxophilite. — A day on the
Downs with 250,000 jjeqpie. — English Amusements. — Insignificant
Police force.

However, in the midst of these debates, which pre-occupied,
in so great a degree, the attention of all England, which invited the
intervention of all distinguished public men, and which revealed a
position growing more and more uncertain upon the old and new
parties, between whom the government of the country is shared, an
interlude presented itself which paints the British character too well
not to find a place in this narrative. At the opening of the sitting
on the 18th of May; Captain Vivian, an adherent of Lord Palmerston,
proposed to the House to adjourn till the 20th. He coimted on the
support of his motion by aU the Ministerial and conservative party,
and he presumed that Mr. Disraeli, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
and leader of the House of Commons, who has so often drawn from
his quiver the pointed arrows of his eloquence, to launch them against
his political adversaries, would entertain a lively desire to witness
the exploits of another archer in another arena.

What might this strange interruption mean ? It meant that the
day after the Epsom races were to take place, which have for prin-
cipal attraction the great annual prize which is called (it is not known
why) " the Derby ;" that Lord Derby, who is at once the First
Minister, first orator and first sportsman in England, was a compe-
titor for this prize ; that the horse (his own) he backed to win it was
called Toxophilite (which, in Anglo-Greek, signifies archer); and,
finally, that this race is an object of popular, one might might say
of national interest, in which the upper and lower, political and com-
mercial classes take part with the universal and passionate anxiety
which the ancient Greeks and Romans, and the Spaniards of modem
times, have shown for analogous but less innocent spectacles. ' ' These
are the Olympic games of England," said Lord Palmerston one day :
and it is the most exact definition which can be given of them.

The House unanimously adopted Captain Vivian's motion, and
broke up to proceed en masse to Epsom Downs. Prepared speeches
were tlu-ust into the pocket, and eloquence hung up on the same peg
with party spirit. Every one agreed to forget for one day England
and India. Whether India was to be governed by confiscation or by
conciliation, whether England was to keep Lord Derby for Prime

52

^' i'l

Minister or not, vraa no longer the question, but whether Lord Der-
by's horse should win the race that bore his master's name, and in
the issue of which the whole country was interest^ed.

Since the Sovereign House of Commons thus bids good bye for a
day to serious affairs, let us do likewise ; let us follow it to Epsom,
and let us join a group of members quite resolved to vote against
each other an the morrow, but still more resolute to amuse them-
selves together to day, the jovial eve of a decisive battle.

It has been well said that he who has not seen the Derby has not
seen England ; and for that reason people are less in the right who
incessantly repeat that an Englishman does not know how to amuse
himself ; or, at least, to amuse liimself with spirit, and with order
and decency at the same time. Whoever has seen 2!)0,000 or 300,000
inhabitants of London and its neighborhood assembled under a fine
spring sun on the green slopes of Epsom Downs ; whoever has wan-
dered among all these equipages of every possible class, among these
sheds, these bands of music, these open-air theatres, these tents with
their fluttering streamers, this sea of bipeds and quadrupeds, returns
home thoroughly convinced of the truth of two things generally but
little received — first, the honest and commimicative gaiety of the
immense majority of the numerous throng ; secondly, the great
degree of equality which brings together, for this day at least, con-
ditions of society usually the most distinct and apart from each other.
Princes of the blood and peers of most ancient pedigree elbow grooms
in the crowd and others of low degree, and even take part in the
popidar games which occupy the irksome interval between +l'o races.
Nowhere, not even among us in France — is seen p gi-eater mingling
of ranks ; nowhere else, too, a gaiety, good humour, and decency
resembling more the same qualities which distinguish in so honorablo
a manner our popular masses when they abandon tliemselvoa to thai ;•
periodical and official anmsements. In the midst of this joyous and
animated throng one might believe one's self in France. But this
illusion speedily vanislies when one rcn^^.rks the absence of every-
thing like an official programme, of all interference on tlie part
of the authoiities. It is individmil industry which has done it all —
announced everything, foreseen everything, regulated even'tliiug ;
the subscriptions collected to defray all expenses are e|x»ntHueons.
A mere handful of pohcemen, without arms, and lost, as it were
in the midst of the throng, reminds one of precautions taken against
an interruption of order. By these features we instantly recognize
England.

35. — The Earl Premier. — His ancient descent. — Prestige of his na/HM
on the turf ai\d among his Peers. — Marshal Pelissier.

On the way to Epsom, as diuing the preceding days, every con-
Tersation turned on the odd coincidence between Lord Derby's poli-
tical destiny and his luck as a racing man. As on the evening before,
his name waa on every lip, and in tiie issue of the race about to come
off people took pleasure in accepting an omen of liis victory or his
defeat in the division to take place the day after. An opinion, rather
generally credited, circulated to the effect that the noble lord was far

tj;'

for a
psom,
igainst
them-

53

more solicitons for the success of his horse than for that of his party.
The public credence was slight in his relish for the cares and fatigues
attaching to that office of Premier, already once filled by him, the
loss of which seemed to have inspired him with little regret, the
possession of which could hardly add another charm or fresh lustre
to his lofty and impregnable position as a great peer and a great
orator. Head of one of those families, very few in nimiber, of the
English aristocracy which date from the time of the Plantagenets,
fourteenth earl and peer of his name. Chancellor of the University of
Oxford, placed, by a fortunate union of rank and talent, among that
knot of men who are beyond all reach of rivalry, of whose names
none are ignorant, whose merits none contest, there remains for him
no social distinction to be acquired, not even the blue riband of the
Garter. But the blue riband of the Turf (it is thiis that the prize
which bears his name at the Epsom races is designated) appears to
every one, and to him in particular, the legitimate and natural object
of his ambition ! Shall he win it or not ? That is the question the
solution of which tasks every mind and seduces into the midst of
the crowd all the notabilities of politics and diplomacy , among others
Marshal Pelissier, who represents so worthily our country and our
army, and enjoys among our neighbours a popularity so great and so
justly merited.

36. Graphic sketch of celebrated personages present. — Their ahsnrhing
interest in scene. — The crowning race. — Lord Derhyh loss of the
^^ Blue rihatid." — Prognostics therefrom.

Let us follow them into the paddock — that is, a reserved space
where the horses entered for the race are exhibited previous to the
start. Attention is momentarily attracted to this or that horse, but
it is Lord Derby and the horse that carries his fortunes that fix every
eye. There he Ls ! Which of them ? The man, or the horse ? Both
are there, but hardly has the horse made his appearance when the
owner is forgotten. The celebrated animal is walked slowly to and
fro, as if to display in detail all the points which are to assure victory
to him, to his master, and to the innumerable host of betters who
have risked their money on his back. A numerous group of political
personages, intermingled with connoisseurs of another order, follow
with coniical gravity, and a sort of religious attention, every move-
ment of the animal. I had the satisfaction to recognize among them
one of the most ardent defenders of Church and State, an Anglican
of the old block, the same who some time afterwards was destined to
do me the honor of signalizing me to the House of Commons cOS an
advocate of tlie cause of civil and religioxis liberty, only with a view
to reduce England and Franco under the domination of the J 'jsuits.
He seemed to have completely forgotten the danger of the Estab-
lished Church and the formidable progress of Popery, to such a point
was he absorbed by the contemplation of ToxophiHte's paces.

After some insignificant interludes, the crowning race commences ;
24 horses start together. How shall I paint the devouring anxiety,
the tumultuous swaying to and fro of the crowd, the forward spring,
the rustling of the hundred thousand persons whose eyes and hearts

54

are concentrated upon a single object ? The disinterested stranger
involuntarily recalled his Virgil to mind, and the immortal veraes of
the fifth book of the ^neid, which have familiarized every one of
liberal education and every cultivated mind with so many insignificant
details forever ennobled by the epic muse. The race, which was run
over a space three quarters of a league, lasted less than three minutes.
For an instant, thanks to an inequahty of the course, all the horses
disappeared from the view of the spectators ; when they again came in
sight the different chances of the rivals began to declare themselves.
One moment more of devouring anxiety, a hundred thousand heads
turned towards the winning-post. Fate has decided, it is not Lord
Derby who has won. His famous horse is only second. The " blue
riband" escapes him ; the cup has been won by the horse of a baronet
imknown, who has realised at a stroke something like £40,000.

In this unexpected check to the Prime Minister at Epsom every
one saw a prognostic of the political defeat which awaited him at
Westminster.

38.

CHAPTER VII. — Close of the great debate.

37. Feverish anxiety of the Public mind. — Predicted defeat of tlie

Derby Ministry.

Everyone's mind returned the day after this holiday to the
pre-occupations that engrossed its eve, and plunged anew into the
great struggle, the issue of which was to exercise so vital an influence
on the destinies of England and of India, and on the future of those
200,000,000 of souls, of whom Mr. Roebuck had spoken with such
noble eloquence. It was not merely in Parliament, or in high
society, or in exclusively pohtical circles that this ardent curiosity
was bent on divining the results of the debate. The entire country,
represented by all that it contained in the form of intelligent and
well-informed men, followed, with feverish anxiety, the different
incidents of the conflict, and identified itself with its slightest details,
thanks to the powerful and usefid au* of the press, wliich causes to
penetrate into the humblest hamlet a detailed and perfectly accurate
report of the Parhamentary debates. It does more ; it accompanies
them with conunentaries, which sum up and reproduce those debates,
adding thereto arguments often more conclusive and more original
than those of the speakers. It is in this way tliat it awakens the
conscience of the country, that it invites and occasions the interven-
tion of all in the affairs of all, and that it proclaims, while it regu-
lates, the direct action of the country on its representatives and its
chief. What wit and science, what irony and passion, what talent
and life have been poured forth during tliis fortnight tlu'ough the
voluminous columns of the English newspapers !

They always predicted, with unvarying confidence, the certain defeat
of Government, and promised themselves a majority so considerable
and so significant as to render all idea of dissolution useless and

or.

i;ii!

55

devoid of sense. Nevertheless, some symptoms of dismemberment
already manifested themselves in the midst of the majority which had
been so confidently counted on. Its chiefs, in traversing the ranks
of their phalanx, could already remark the expressive silence of
some, the increasing hesitation of several. The debate had evidently
shaken, if not altogether changed, many opinions entertained from
ihe first. All its brilliancy, all its strength had been on the side of
the adversaries of the vote of censure. Its partisans had scarcely
raised themselves above the combinatians and recriminations of
party spirit. The result was still more visible during the sitting of
the 20th of May.

38. Sketch of Messrs. John Bright and Frederick Lucas. — Brighfs
famous Speech. — His growing popularity. — His Attack on Lord
John RusseU. — Closing appeal.

Mr. Bright, who disputes with Mr. Gladstone the palm of elo-
quence and the attention of the House, brought, on the Thursday,
to the good cause the powerful aid of his opinion and increasing
authority. Mr. Bright is a member of the Quaker sect ; he is
brother-in-law of that Frederick Lucas who, bom in the same sect,
became a Catholic, and in addition, the most enei^etic advocate of
his new faith. Hardly had he entered the House of Commons when
Lucas there took up a position beyond the reach of rivalry ; every-
thing predicted in him an orator and party leader who should equal,
or, perhaps surpass O'Connell ; a premature death left behind the
remembrance, still vivid, of the invincible charms of his language,
and of the energetic uprightness of his convictions. Mr. Bright,
like his brother-in-law, takmg up a position outside of all old parties,
and bordering on the road which leads to power, has not ceased to
grow greater in public esteem, despite of the temporary unpopularity
which attached to him in consequence of his opposition to the eastern
war. Every one blames and regrets his exaggerated attacks against
English manners (mceurs) and English institutions, attacks of which
he himself is the living and briUiant contradiction ; but every session
has seen his ascendancy increase, and this Quaker is to-day one of
the three or four most interesting personages, and most listened to,
in England. It was a question put by him which provoked the pub-
lication of the famous despatch. It was but just that he should now
defend it. This he did with an energy, an accuracy, a simplicity of
argumentation and of demonstration well fitted to carry conviction,
rapidly and triumphantly, into every impartial mind. He also knew
how to find skilfuUy the weak point ir the armour of the Whig reso-
lution, abstaining the while from expressing any opinion of Lord
Canning's proclamation.

"I will call the Hou|e to witness whether, when, in answer to my ques-
tion which brought out this despatch, the Chancellor of the Exchequer said
that with respect to the policy of coufiscation — for that is the only thing in
the proclamation about which there is any dispute — the Government dis-
avowed it in every eetiee, — I call the House to witness whether every gen-
tleman present down here (below the gangway) did not cheer that senti-
Duant (Cheers.) Why, of course, every man cheered it. They would not

56

•be men, tliey would not be Englishmen, ihey would not be English legis-
lators, if they had not done so. They wonld be men who had never heard
what was just and right if, at the very iustant thev heard the declaration
of the Government, every inatitirt wiihin them did not compel them to an
enthusiastic assent. (Hear, hear.) It was only when the fatal influence of
party (loud cheers), and the arts that party knows how to employ (renewed
cheering), were put in motion tiiat hun. gentlemen began to discover that
there was something serious and dangerous in this memorable despatch.
NoTV. I would ask the House — because that is the question — are we pre-
pared to sanction the policy of that despatcl: ? I am norry that it did not
occur to me until after the amentJment now before the House was proposed,
or I would have moved an amendment expressly upon that point; because
I feel — I speak it without the slightest reference to the influence it may
have on any party in this House — that it is uf the very highest consequence
that whatever decision we come to shall be incapable of any misinterpre-
tation when it arrives in India."

Here turning to attack the most redoubtable adversary of the
despatch — Lord John Russell — he evoked against him, with felicity
and justice, the remembrance of his own errors, and the imprudence
committed by him in criticising tartness or harshness of language,
expressed by no matter whom. He reminded him that he (Lord
John Russell), on the occasion of the restoration of the Roman
Catholic hierarchy and the arrival of Cardinal Wiseman in England,
had addressed a letter, pubUshed, to the Bishop of Durham, which
had given the signal for a considerable agitation, and sown the seeds
of a strife which still endures. *'The noble Lord," said our intrepid
Quaker, in whose person the Dissenter pierces through the political
orator, " has blamed Lord Ellenborough's despatch on account of its
tone of invective and sarcasm. But the noble Lord ought to have
been exceedingly reserved on that point, for he lives in a glass-house
more fragile than any of ours. When he takes up his pen no one
can foresee what he may give to the public. I remember a very
extraordinary letter of his, which he doubtless intended to be very
proper in its phraseology, to a bishop. (Renewed laughter.) I am
not anxious to deal severely with the noble lord, but when a grave
statesman writes to so holy a man as a bishop, one might at least
expect that he would avoid sarcasm and invective. (Great cheering
and laughter.) Yet, in the letter to which I refer, the noble lord
hurled his siu-casm and invective against some 6,000,000 of his fel-
low-subjects, and did great mischief to the peace of the imited king-
dom at the time. (Cheers. ) I can tell the noble lord of another
letter, in which there was not much sarcasm or invective, but an
amazing amount of insinuation of the most unpleasant character. It
was written, not to the Governor-General of India, a proconsul
10,000 miles away, but to a nobleman filling one of the most delicate
and diflicult offices connected with the liom* government of the
united kingdom. Upon that occasion the noble lord transgressed
further, for in the most heedless manner, when nobody asked him,
he published the letter, and thereby for a long period weakened the
hands and damaged the character of the noble viscount, the member
for Tiverton [Lord Palmeraton]. (Cheers and laughter.)

Ifflh legJs-
ver heard
eclaration
hem to an
fluence of
( renewed
lOver that
despatch,
e we pre-
it did not
proposed,
; because
36 it may
asequence
isintei'pre-

y of the
h felicity
prudence
anguage,
he (Lord
i Roman
England,
m, which
the seeds
* intrepid
> political
ant of its
to have
ass-house
n no one
er a very
) be very
'. ) I am
a grave
at least
cheering
)ble lord
f his fel-
;ed king-
another
but an
C5ter. It
roconsul
; deUcato
t of the
sgrossed
ced him,
3ned the
member

57

The House received with marked sympathy and with prolonged
applause these passages, and others still, which we must omit in
order to arrive at the conclusion of the speech, in which the elocjuei- j
and honest man whom we listened to with so much emotion, attacked
alike the tactics employed by the former Ministry to recover power
by the aid of a complication of external events, and the inhuman in-
citements of the English press to renewed executions.

"Now, I ask. is the House prepared to overthrow tho Govrrninrnt on
this question, which the ripht hon. mover had placed bcfnro it in nmbijafu-
OU3 terms, and is it ready to plunge the country into the turmori of a gen-
eral election, at a moment ^hen the people are only juat slowly recovering .
from the effect^ of a most tremendous commercial panic ? (Cheers.) Is
the House willing to dflay all Indian legislation and all discussion on re-
form till next year ? (Hear, hear.) Above all, is the House willing to take
upon itself the responsibility which will attach to it if it avows tlie policy
cfthe proclamation? I am terrified for the future of India when I hear of
the iudiscriminate slaushter which is going on there. I believe that the
whole of India is trembling with volcanic fires*, and that we should be guilty
of the utmost recklessness, and of a great crime against the moiiaicliy of
England, if we were to do anything which would be an avowal of the pro-
clamation that has been issued. [Cheers."] I am asked on this question to
overturn Her Majesty's Government. Why, the policj adopted by the
Government on this subject is the policy that was cheered by hon. members
on this side when it first announced. [Hear, hear.] It i^ a policy of mercy
and conciliation. False — may I not say ? — or blundering leadt-'s of this
party would induce us, contrary m all our associations and all onr princi-
ples, to support an opposite policy. I am willing to avow that I am in fa-
vour of justice and conciliation, — of the law of justice and of kindness.
Justice and mercy are the supreme attributes of the perfection which we
call Deity, bat all men everywhere comprehend them There is no speech
nor language in which their voice is not heard, and they could not have
been vainly exorcised with regard to the docile and intelligent millions of
India. You had the choice. You have tried the sword. It has broken ;
it now rests broken in youi- grasp ; and you stand humbled and rebuked.
[Some cries of " Oh! oh 1" from the Opposition 1 You stand humbled and
rebuked before the eyes of civilized Europe. [Renewed crie.s of ' Oh !"
and cheers.] You may have another chance. You nsay, by possibility,
Jiave another chance of governing India. If you have, 1 beseech you to
make the best use of it. Do not let us pursue such a policy as many men
in ludia, and some in England, have advocated, but which hereafter you
will have to regret ; which can end only, as I believe, in something ap-
proaching to the ruin of this country, and which must, if it be persisted in,
involve our name and nation in everlasting disgrace. [Loud and continued
applause.]"

39. Sir James Graham. — His party prominence. — His poiverful
Speech. — Summ,ing up the issues of the great debate. — Virtually
deciding the contest.

After a speech of such power, immensely applauded, one might
well expect to see, at length a speaker rise on the other side, capa-
ble of avenging the cause of the resolution of censure, and vindi-
cating it against overwhelming attacks. But the expectation was
vain. None presented themselves, except second or tlurd rate com-

58

batants, whose inferiority became more evident, when Sir James
Graham arose to defend the same thesis as Mr. Bright. Long
invested with the highest fmictions in the Ministries at the head of
which respectively were Lord Grey, Sir Robert Peel, Lord Aber-
deen, and lastly. Lord Palmerston, ho occupies, with Mr. Gladstone,
the first rank in the Peelite party. He began by declaring, in the
name of the venerable Aberdeen — a particular friend of Lord Can-
ning, as of himself — that Lord Canning, whose fair renown might
appear to have been compromised by the premature publication of
Lord Ellenborough's despatch, had received, by the spontaneous
resignation of the latter Minister, a repaiation amply sufficient and
that the Government had acted towards him with great moderation
in not recalling him. He then laid great stress on a fact, the news
of which had arrived that veiy day, the energetic protest directed
against the proclamation by Sir James Outram — that is, by that very
one among all the English Generals who had himself effected, under
Lord Dalhousie, the annexation of Oude, who was still in connuand
there, and who, during the last compaign, had attracted universal
admiration by consenting, like our own Boufflers, at Malplaquet,
and Lord Hardinge in Affghanistan to serve as a volunteer under
the orders of his subordinate, that subordinate being no other than
Havelock, whom he did not wish to deprive of the glory of a victory
already half-gained. In aid of these imposing testimonies Sir James
Graham brought to bear all the weight of his own personal authority
in his attack against tiie theory and practice of political confiscation.
Calling attention to the warnings given by Machiavel, the great
doctor in the science of State crime, who taught that individuals and
communities more willingly pardon those who have robbed them of
their patrimony, he cited, in addition the authority of the Duke of
Wellington, who, addressing himself to his successor in India, recom-
mended him, above all things, to respect private rights and indivi-
dual property. Then, contrasting the example of Napoleon I. with
that of his conqueror, he referred to the energetic resistance, nar-
rated in a recent publication by M. Villemain which the Emperor
encountered from his most faithful adherents, when, during the
Hundred Days, he wished to fulminate from Lyons, a decree of
confiscation against thirteen of his principal adversaries. His Grand-
Marshal Bertrand, the honestest and most faithful of his friends,
the companion of his last perils and last misfoiiunes, refused, in
spite of liis master's injimctions and entreaties, to countersign the
fatal decree. "Those," said he, who advise you to begin anew a
regime of proscription and confiscation are your worst enemies, and
I will not be their accomplice." Labedoy^re added, ''If the system
of proscriptioA and sequestration re-commence, all that will not last
long." Sir James summed up his own opinions, and, it may be said,
the entire debate, in these terms : —

•* The general conclusion at which T have arrived may be briefly stated.
I think the proclamation is substantially wrong ; I think the despatch is
substantially right. (Cheers.) The error of the proclamation is in its
essence; the error of the despatch is in its form and expression. (Renewed
cheeriDg.) Upoa a former occasion the right hon. gentleman the member

for Radm
publicatii
ernnient (
A change
rally asp
(Cheers.)
(Continue
they for a
hear.) T
Who was
by Her M
Clerk say
unless the
for he say
fiscation fa
the veiy v
shall not I
principle (
expense o
consider w
have no fri
in the horn
told U9 thn
with any j
gregate am
plans of a
that there
credulity, jj
ter.) Tiart
this House
pared to re
principle w
citly or opt
the opinion
wishes still
lion. ^entl<
once that v
I exercise
who sneer (
cheers.) I
ohl") In
(Cheers.)
gladly and
If that, hoi
My vote ag
Loud cheer

40. Public

Vic

After th
rally speak
was still ui
one side, I
Gladstone,

Sir James
lit. Long
tie head of
lord Aber-
aladstone,
ng, in the
Lord Can-
wn might
jUcation of
)oiitaneou8
iicient and
noderation
, the news
3t directed
y that very
cted, under
. command
d universal
lalplaquet,
iteer under
other than
of a victory
i Sir James
il authority
onfiscation.
I, the great
viduals and
»ed them of
he Duke of
idia, recom-
and indivi-
eon I. with
stance, nar-
le Emperor
during the
a decree of
His Grand-
his friends,
refused, in
itersign the
egin anew a
leinies, and
f the system
will not last
nay be said,

jriefly stated,
despatch is
tion is in its
1. (Renewed
2 the member

fi9

for Radnor said that the neglect of the Government with respect to the
publication of the despatch almost amounted to design. Waa ever a Gov-
ernment dismissed yet for neglect almost amounting to design? (Cheers.)
A change of Goveiiiinent being sought, I am bound to ask those who natu-
rally aspire to succeed to the present Ministers what id Iheir policy?
(Cheers.) Are they for the proclamation, or are they for the despatch ?
(Continued cheering.) In other words, are they for confiscation, or arc
they for amnesty — anmesty in the sense of Sir John Lawrence ? ( Hear,
hear.) The battle still rages in India; that sea of fire is unquenched.
Who was the person placed as permanent secretary at the Board of Control
by Her Majes-ty'a late advisers i Sir George Clerk. What does Sir George
Clerk say upon this subject? He says that the ship cannot be righted
unless the proclamation is thrown overboard. (Cheers.) He goes further,
for he says that you cannot permanently hold India if the principle of con-
fiscation be established by the British Government. (Hear, hear.) So, in
the very words of the despatch which is so much blamed, I say that we
shall not be able to hold India if the entire population, on account of the
principle of confiscation, think they are subjected to British dominion at the
expense of legitimate rights. (Cheers.) Adopting that opinion, I have to
consider what is the real object of the present motion. (Hear, hear.) I
have no friend in whose honor or word I trust m(»re implicitly than I do
in the honor and word of the right hon. member for Rtdnor; and he has
told us that he does not believe that this motion has been brought forwai'd
with any party object whatever. (Laughter.) We all know that men con-
gregate and make treaties of friendly and offen.'iive alliance, deliberate on
plans of attack, and probably on the division of the spoil ; and to tell me
that there is no party object in this motion is to draw on my small stock of
credulity, and make me sceptical and an unbeliever. (Cheers and laugh-
ter.) Three months have hardly passed by since by a deliberate vote of
this House we expelled the late Government from power; and are we pre-
pared to reinstate them upon such a motion as the present, wherein the
principle which has beeu asserted by Her Majesty's advisers is not expli-
citly or openly condemned ? Can I be a party to any such vote, entertaining
the opinion I have expressed in this House ? I cannot do it. All my party

wishes still linger abmit (Cries of "Oh !" from the Opposition.) An

lion, gentleman on the front Opposition bench sneers at this. I say at
once ti)at whatever others may be I am no candidate for power. (Cheers.)
I exercise a most dispassionate and disinterested judgment, and let those
who sneer on that bench make the same declaration, (Loud and repeated
cheers.) I never gave a vote with more pain or regret in my life. C'Oh,
oh 1") I never discharged a public duty with a more clear conscience.
(Cheers.) I would gladly have voted for the previous question, and I
gladly and cordially adopt the ameudment of the hon. member for Swansea.
If that, however, lie rejected, I shall reluctantly, yet unhesitatingly, give
my vote against the motion of my right hon. friend the member for Oxford
Loud cheers.)

40. Public expectation on tiptoe. — Excitement in the House. — Final
Victory. — Lord Palmer stoves strategy. — Closing scenes.

After these two speeches the cause of justice and truth was, mo-
rally speaking, victorious. However, the issue of the deliberation
was still uncertain ; some great speakers were still to be heard — on
one side, Mr. Disraeli, leader of the House of Commons, and Mr.
Gladstone, the most eloquent of its orators j on the other, Lord

CO

Palmorston, with all the inexhaustible sources of his intellectual
eloquence. Public anxiety luwl reached its height, and on the day
after the* (21 st of May), the last day of this great conHict, the crowd
of inenil)er8 andof spuctators, huddled together in tlio naiTow pre-
cincts of tlio HoUiio, surpassed all that had ever Xiean seoii theretofore.
Statione*! in tlio gallery reserved for the Peers and strangoi-s of dis-
tinction, Lords Derby and Granville, seated side by side, seemed to
pass in review their two armies, while waiting for tlie decisive enga-
gement whii'h was to decide the lot of both, and to mai<e them pass
from one side of the neighboring House to the other. An electrical
agitation reigned in the ranks of the Assembly. P»ut, lo ! at the
very oiioning of the sitting an unexpected spectacle presents itself.
A member rises from the Opposition benches to request tlie proposer
of the motion of censure against the Government to withdraw it.
Mr. Chi ilwell, s\irprised by this abrupt proposition, ilatly refuses.
Instantly five or six other members of the Opposition successively
renew the same summons. It was the symptom of the internal divi-
sion which had been at work since the commencement of the debate,
and of a defection which was becouung more and more dangerous.
The army which had been so sure of victory began to give way.
Mr. Cavdwell still hesitated. Thereupon General De Lacy Evans,
one of Lord Palmerston's oldest partizans, declared that for him, he
should propose a motion directly censuring Lord Canning's procla-
mation, and disapproving the confiscation policy. Another Opposi-
tion member declared that, if a division were peraisted in, there was
no otlier course open to liim but to bid good-bye to the proposer of
the motion, and to quit the House. A third more simply frank,
evoked the possibility of a dissolution, which would probably cause
many partizans of the vote of censure to lose their seats. A whole
hour passed away amid the strange and increasing confusion, and
every moment the certainty of the humiliating defeat of the Oi^po-
sition was becoming more apparent. To avoid this disaster Lord
Palmerston took his resolution, and determined on retreating. To
mask his retreat from the enemy, and putting forward, as a pretext,
the etlect produced by General Outvam's protest, quoted on the
debate of yesterday, and officially published on that veiy day, he, in
his turn, requested Mr. Cardwell to withdraw his motitni. The latter
at length consented, amid the ironical cheers of the Conservative
party. The day was decided and the campaign at an end without
the reserve having been brought into action. The Ministiy carried
the day, althoiigh not a single Minister had spoken.

There remained nothing more for the Cabinet but to certify its
victory, and to determine in advance its moral effect. This Mr. Dis-
raeli accomplished with infinite address and triumphant modesty.
He stated at the outset that it was not the Ministry wIkj refused to
accept battl*, or who had to fear its result, neither was it the Minis
try who had put its adversaries to rout. He acknowledged that the
battle had been won by men who were neither mend)ers nor adhe
rents of the Government — by Mr. Roebuck, Mr. Bright, and Sii
James Graham, whose independence, talent and authority had thrown
the most brilliant light upon the debate, and modified the preconcei

ved oi)ii

to abusu

declared

a pnide

and whi

woiUd e:

waiting

effect ha

Mr. G

to congr

the unhc

the ju8ti<

cognized

the Huui

4

Refled
lemberfc s
the feeblt
those mo.»
resound t
even to tl
the laws (
quest ; —

[In ton
world wit
tongue. ]

In a wo
terial for(
to do its (
sometime;
events or
repair ev(
safety oul

While t
acle, full
who sees
and in a <
cilely ind(
shadows c
tached to
the most
whom nei
who, ever
of patriot
endure tl
worthy to
betrayed
does not
generous

I intellectual
(I on the day
;t, the crowd

I naiTow pre-
i theretofore,
angel's of dis-
le, seemed to
lecisivo enga-
tke them pass

An electrical
lit, lo ! at the
resents itself.
t the proposer
► withdraw it.
lliitly refuses.

II s\icces8ively
! inteniul divi-

of the debate,
)re dangerous,
n to give way.
e Lacy Evans,
mt for him, he
lining's procla-
iiother Opposi-
d in, there was
he proposer of
; simply frank,
probably cause
jeats. A whole
confusion, and
of the Oppo-
disastor Lord
retreating. To
I, as a pretext,
quoted on the
very day, he, in
ion. The latter
le Conservative
an end without
Vlinistiy carried

»ut to certify its
This Mr. Dis-
pliant modesty,
who refused to
ras it the Minis
vledged that the
tnbers nor adhe

orityhadthrowp
id the preconcei

61

vod opinions of a portion of the House. Resolved, for tho rest, not
to abuse snccess, iiuil not to drive his adversaries to uxtrumidu.s, he
declared that as long as Lord Canning should act conifonniiltly with
a prudent and conciliatory policy, wliich was reconnnendod to him,
and which ho had so long generally carried out, the (Government
would extend to him its conlidonce and support ; for the rest, without
waiting for the result of the debate, a telegraphic despatch to that
effect luul l)een already fonvarded to him.

Mr. Gladstone, Lord John Russell, and Mr. Bright in turn, rose
to congratulate the House, according to their rospoc^tive views, on
the unhoped-for conclusion of the debate, and to certify as well to
the justice done to Lord Canning a» to the principles universally re-
cognized in favor of clemency and moderation in India. After which
the House adjourned for the Easter holidays.

41. Montalemherfs re lections on quiU'mg the House.

Reflecting upon the debate which had concluded, M. de Monta-
lemberfc says : — " Humanity, equity, the rights of the conquered and
the feel)le had found for champions the most intrei)id orators, and
those most attentively listened to in an assembly the echoes of which
resound through the whole world, and their voices would penetrate
even to the banks of the Ganges, to restore there, in tlieir integrity,
the laws of honorable warfare and the conditions of civilizing con-
quest : —

" ' lllo, super Ganffem, super exauditus ot Iiidos.

" ' Implebit terras voce; ct fiirialia bella

" ' Fulmiiie compescet liu«iuK."

[In tones heard beyond the Ganges and the Indias he shall fill the
world with his voice, and check much wars with the thunder of his
tongue. ]

In a word, moral force had been openly and nobly preferretl to ma-
terial force by the organs of a great nation which is able and willing
to do its own business ; wliich notliing depresses or frightens ; which
sometimes deceives itself, but does not drive to extremities either
events or men ; finally, which knows how to manage everything and
repair everytliing, without needing to submit to tutelage or to seek
safety out of its own virile and inteUigent energy.

While these reflections encompassed me I quitted their great spect-
acle, full of emotion and contented, as ought to have been every man
who sees in a Government something else besides an antechamber,
and in a civilized people something more than a flock of sheep, do-
cilely indolent, to be fleeced and led forth to pasture under the silent
shadows of an enervating security. I felt myself more than ever at-
tached to those liberal hopes which have always animated, through
the most regrettable phases of our history, the 6lite of honest men,
whom neither disappointment nor defeat has ever bowed down, and
who, even in exile or on the scaffold, have always preserved enough
of patriotism to believe that France could, quite as well as England,
endure the reign of right, light, and liberty. Noble belief ! well

Bright and Sii worthy to actuate the most painful sacrifices, and which, although

betrayed by fortune, deserted by the crowd, and insulted by cowards,
does not the less retain its invincible empire over proud souls and
generous spirits.

CHAPTER VIII.-

-Effect of the Debate. — The present state
OF England.

42. Opinion of the ^^ Univem" on the EiujlUh deJnik — iU effect in

India — hmnceiittjofthe *^ outs'' v^hen ^^in" poiver.

Whou I rotiirnod to Franco I read in the loadijig organ of
tho clergy, and of the now ailliance of tho throne and the altar, that
all I hiul just soon and heard was "a farce played with great display
of 8cen>jry," such as are often found in tho history of delil)erative as-
senihlios. Happy country, thought I, and still move happy clergy,
to whom such excellent information is given in such nohle language!

Meantime, the debate of May last had produced a salutary infiu-
etico in India. Lord Canning returned without difhculty to his for-
mer line of conduct, from which fatal counsels had diverted him.
While setting forth the apology for the confiscation in the despatch
of the 7th of June, which the papers have recently published, he did
not tho loss re-enter on an indtdgent and moderate policy. If we
are to believe tho latest accounts, tho submission of (Judo is gradually
gDing on. [M. de Montalembert then describes tho new India Board,
and takes the opportunity of paying a passing compliment to Lord
Stanley.] M. do Montalembert continues: — Tho coryphee of the
Conservative administration underwent at this moment the chastise-
ment often inflicted by Providence on statesmen whom political pas-
sions— I repeat passions, and not servile and factious greediness —
have carried on to injustice and exaggeration. The power they have
so eagerly coveted is one day granted to tuera, but on tho condition
of following precisely the same line which they made a reproach of
their predecessors. Since their second period of office Lord Derby
and Mr. Disraeli are occupied with doing all whicli they alleged as
a crime against Sir Robert Peel. They accept, or they themselves
propose liberal reforms which they have, or whicli they would to a
certainty have combated if they had remained in the Opposition,
into which they were thrown by the rupture with tlie illustrious chief
from whom they separated when he admitted tho necessity of tear-
ing to pieces the old Tory programme and opening the doors of the
future. The admission of Jews to Parliament, the abolition of qua-
lification for the House of Commons, the promise of a new Parlia-
mentary Reform more efficacious than all the recent propositions,
indicate the steps which they have taken in this new path, and have
naturally gained for them the sympathy of the Liberals, while by
measures sincerely favorable to religious liberty in schools, in pri-
sons, and in the army, they have acquired a sort of adhesion even
among the more militant portion of the episcopacy and the Catholic
press of Ireland.

43. Importance of the defeat of Lord Palmerston and the *^ Times."

But if the great debate on India has consolidated for some time
this Conservative Ministry, it has rendered a service much more
considerable to England and to Europe by confirming the defeat of
Lord Palmerston. In spite of the skilful slowness of his retreat at
the last hour of the combat, that defeat was not the less evident and

eomplt

take {I

yoke.

his mil

free co

a lesso

being i

Anol

haa be(

years b

all its

tlie lat(

sive pre

inconte!

organ o

of the p

omnipol

never rt

would I

single jc

sibility t

the eartl

the tribu

counterf

on India

44. The

Let it
politics j
struggle
observer!
our neig
class — bi
tuted afti
in Franci
existence
known tl
pretensio
which de
esteems i
and value
It abhon
whether i
itself ; he
tion and
possess it
above ani
does not
without c
it. It

SENT STATE

-Itn effect in
wer.

g organ of
1 altar, that
reat display
ihorative aa-
iippy clergy,
le language!
lutary intlii-
;y to his for-
vertod him.
the despatch
ished, he did
ilicy. If we
! is gradually
India Board,
nent to Lord
yphee of the
the chastise-
political pas-
groediness —
vev they have
[he condition
I vei)roach of
3 Lord Derby
ey alleged as
3y themselves
y would to a
e Opposition,
ustrious chief
ssity of tear-
a doors of the
)lition of qua-
[I new Parlia-
propositions,
ath, and have
rals, while by
chools, in pri-
idhesion even
i the Catholio

tlie *' Times."

or some time
!e much more
^ the defeat of
his retreat at
183 evident and

63

comploto ; and for the rest of the sossion the Chamber socmod to
take pluiumro in showing him that it hud definitely thnw a ott' his
yoke. Ho will perhaps rotiu'n to power, so long as the resources of
his mind are abundimt, and so long as the return to popularity in a
free country is unforeseen and natural ; but he will return to it with
a lesson, if not a correction, and penetrated with the necessity of
being more cautious towards his allies and his adversaries.

Another power, still more formidable than that of Lord Palir.erston,
has been vanquished in the struggle — the Times, pledged for two
years l)ack to the policy of tho noble Lord, and which luid devoted
all its resources to tho triumph of tho i)lan of attack coml >ined by
tlie late IMinister. It is impossible not to see in this fact, a conclu-
sive proof of the national good sense of the English j)eople. Tho
incontestible utility of that immense engine of publicity, as the loud
organ of eveiy individual grievance, as well as the energetic stinnilant
of the public sentiment, would be more than counterbalanced by its
omnipotence, if this omnipotence did not meet AvitJi a check, and
never received a lesson. The equilibrium of constitutional powers
would be seriously endangered by the exclusive prepondoriinco of a
single journal in which writers without mission and without respon-
sibility speak as masters every day to the most numerous public in
the earth. But, as I believe I have elsewhere proved, the empire of
the tribune and its universal publicity are the necessaiy ani efficacious
counterpoise of this dangerous power of the press, and the debate
on India has given a fresh and conclusive demonstration of the fact.

44. The Middle Class the (jreat nding power in England — French and

English Bourgeoisie.

Let it bo remarked that in all these various phases of English
politics in our day there is no question whatever of the pretended
struggle between the aristocracy and democracy in whicli superficial
observers fancy they find the key of the movements of opinion with
our neighbors. In England what in reality governs is the middle
class — but a middle class much more largely established, and consti-
tuted after a much more hierarchical fashion than that which governed
in France at certain epochs of our ancient monarchy, and during the
existence of our Parliamentary regime. That middle class has never
known the puerile fits of enthusiasm, nor the annoying and envious
pretensions, nor the base abdications, nor the inexcusable panics
which degrade the history of our bourgeoisie. That middle class
esteems intelligence highly, but character stiU more. It seeks after
and values wealth, but as the sign of social strength and activity.
It abhors apathy and weakness, and consequently arbitrary rule,
whether it be imposed or admitted. It will exist by itself and for
itself ; hence its instinctive and traditional repugnance to centraliza-
tion and bureaucracy. On the other hand, it does not aspire to
possess itself of the whole of the public functions, and to shut out
above and below at the same time access to power against all that
does not belong to it. It opens its ranks to all who raise themselves
without contesting any elevation anterior to it or independently of
it. It willingly consents that the aristocracy by birth, wluch for

64

ages is recruited from its ranks, shall represent at homo and abroad
the public authority and the national grandeur, just as a powerful
sovereign reposing in the tranquil and simple majesty of his power,
willingly leaves to great men and lords the care of displaying the
pomp of distant embassies, and obtaining the honor of onerous
missions.

But it gives to imderstand that its will must be obeyed ; that no
other interest shall enter into conflict with its own ; that no convic-
tion shall prevail over its own. And it is not from to-day that this
veiled but most certain sovereignty dates. For him who understands
well the histt)ry of England, it has for two centm'ies existed, and
ever extended. Amid the superficial division of pai-ties it is the
spirit of the middle classes which has ever directed those great cur-
rents of opinion of which dynastic and Ministerial revolutions are
merely the official interpretation. Tlie English patrician htis never
been other than the active and devoted delegate, the interpreter and
the instrument of that intelligent and resolute class in wliom the na-
tional will and power are condensed. It is that class which Crom-
well and Milton personified when, by the sword of one, and the pen
of the other, the Republic sat for a space on the ruins of the throne
of Charles I. It was from that class, and with it, that Monk brought
back the Stuarts, and that 30 years later, the Parliament substituted
for thcni a new royalty. It was that class which, with the two Pitts,
raised from the beginning of the 18th century the edifice of British
preponderance, and which with Burke saved it from being ruined
and affected by the contagion of revolutionary doctrines. It was
the same class wliich in our day opened under Peel a new era of
policy — the melioration of the condition and the enlargement of the
rights of the working classes.

From this arises the imperious necessity for that transformation
of ancient parties which manifests itself in all the incidents oi con-
temporary politics, and influenced the great debate of wliich I have
endeavoured to give an account.

The real wants and the real dangers of the country are no longer
to be found where people are in the habit of looking for them. Fif-
teen years ago it was predicted that the repeal of the corn laws and
free trade would bring about an irreconcilable antagonism between
the agricultural and manufacturing interests. The contrary is just
what has taken place. The profits of the agriculturists have accom-
panied those of the manufacturers, and have often exceeded them.
It was feared that the rural would be sacrificed to the town popula-
tion ; on the contrary, it is the latter which, multiplying indefinitely
awakens a feelin,' of solicitude as lively as it is legitimate, and con-
stitutes England's social infii'mity. In order to cure this evil it is
not merely the Government, but the entire country, which strug-
gles to seek out the remedy. Its generous efforts will be recom-
pensed by success, if, as everything indicates, in order to meet the
encroaclunents of pauperism, it should find means of keeping within
bounds those of the bureaucracy and of centralization, which have
destroyed or fettered hberty everywhere on the Continent, without
being able to remove or check pauperism.

! and abroad
s a powerful
f his power,
lisplaying the
of onerous

^ed ; that no
lat no convic-
day that this
> understands
existed, and
ies it is the
ose great cur-
volutions are
an has never
iterpreter and
wlioni the na-
which Crom-
), and the pen
of the throne
Monk brought
nt substituted
the two Pitts,
fice of British
being ruined
It

11

fines.
a new

was
era of

■gement of the

transformation
idents of con-
f wliich I have

are no longer
or them. Fif-
corn laws and
mism between
ontrary is just
ts have accom-
ixceeded them.
) town popula-
ing indefinitely
nate, and con-
this evil it is
r, which strug-
(vill be recom-
iv to meet the
keeping within
)n, which have
tinent, without

65

45. Actual state of England. — Progressive reform. — EnglaruTs danger
is from without. — Her loss of Military prestige.

I have already shown in these pages, and I hail again with joy,
the most significant and most consoling symptom of the actual state
of England — I mean the persevering ardor of the flower of the English
nation in the pursuit of sucial and administrative reforms ; of ame-
lioration in the state of the prisons, and that of unhealthy habitations ;
in spreading popular, professional, agricultural, and domestic educa-
tion ; in the augmentation of the resources set apart for public wor-
ship : in the simplification of civil and criminal procedure ; in toiling
every way, for the moral and material well being of the working
classes, not by the humiliating tutelage of uncontrolled power, but
by the generous combination of every free agency and of every spon-
taneous sacrifice.

England's danger is not from within. She would be willingly
viewed by some in the light of a prey to the threats of Socialism,
and as forced to take refuge in autocracy. Ingenious panegyrists of
absolute power have lately exercised lavishly their perspicacity by
looking up, in obsciure pamphlets, and obscure meetings, proofs of
the progress of revolutionary ideas beyond the Channel. Those
learned gentlemen have forgotten or, perhaps, never knew, all that
has been said and done in this direction from 1790 to 1810, not in
holes and comers, but in open day, with the tacit assent of a great
Parliamentary party, and under the patronage of the most remark-
able men in the coimtry, while it was suflfering from serious finan-
cial embarrassments from frequent mutinies in the navy, and from
the formidable enterprises of the great captain of modem times.
Every man who knows never so little of England cannot but smile
at these selfish apprehensions.

No, England's danger doe^j not lie in that direction. It is from
without that she is menaced by the real perils to which she may
succumb, and with respect to which she entertains an unfortunate
delusion. I do not speak of the revolt in India merely, although I
am very far from being reassm-ed as to its final issue to the same
extent that people in England seem to be : but it appears to me
that she has more to fear from Europe than from Asia. At the close
of the first Empire, Europe, with the exception of France, cherished
an intimate accord with England, penetrated, moreover, as it then
was, with the recent victories of the armies of the latter in Spain
and Belgium. It is no longer so to-day. The Enghsh army has
indubitably lost its prestige. Again, the gradual progress of liberal
ideas in England, and the retrograde march of the great Continen-
tal States for some years back in the direction of absolute power,
have marshalled the two political systems oh two roads altogether
different, but running parallel to each other, and sufficiently near to
admit of a conflict taking place from day to day.

There exists, besides, against England in the minds of many, a
moral repulsion, which of itself alone constitutes a serious danger.
The EngUsh regard hi the light of an honor, of a decoration, the
abuse of that press which preaches fanaticism and despotism ; but

66

they would be far wrong in believing that there exist against them
in Europe no antipathies other than those which they are right in
considering an honor. Count de Maistre whom they ought to re-
TOToach themselves with not knowing sufficiently well, who never saw
England, but who divined it with the instinct of genius, and ad-
mired it with the freedom of a great mind, has penned this judg*
ment : — '' Do not beheve that I do not render full justice to the
English. I admire their Government (without, however, believing,
I do not say that it ought not, but it cannot, be transplanted else-
where) ; I pay homage to their criminal law, their arts, their science,
their public spirit, &o. ; but all that is spoiled in their externa) poli-
tical Ufe by intolerable national prejudice, and by a pride without
limit and without prudence, which is revolting to other nations, and
prevents them from uniting for the good cause. Do you know the
great difficulty of the extraordinary epoch (1803), at which we are
living 1 It is that the cause one loves is defended by the nation one
does not love."

As for me, who love the nation almost as much as the cause which
it defends, I regret that M. de Maistre is no longer living to signt^
lize with that anger of love which rendered him so eloquent the
clumsy effirontery which British egotism has manifested in the afitdr
of that Isthmus of Suez whose gates England wou}d fain dose against
all the world, although, prepared in advance, she holds the keys ai>
Perim. He would have been quite as weU worth hearing on the
subject of the ridiculous susceptibility of a portion of the English
press regarding the Russian coal depot at Yillafranca ; at if anation
which extends every day its maritime domination in every part of the
world, and which occupies in the Mediterranean positions such as
Malta, Gibraltar, and Corfu, could complain with a good grace that
other peoples should endeavor to extend their commerce and na-
vigation.

46. Common ground m Europe of animonfy againaf Bngkmd — her
military weakneu and meffidency, — Liberty in danger.

On one side, then, the Intimate resentments excited by the im-
prudent and illogical tendency of England in her relations with other
States, on the other the horror and spite with which the spectacle of
heir enduring and prosperous liberty nils servile souls, have created
in Europe a common ground of animosity against her. It will be
easy for any one who may wish it to turn to good accotmt this ani-
mosity, and to profit by it for the ptirpose of engaging England in
some conflict, out of which she runs a great risk of issuing either
vanquished or diminished. It is then that the masses, wounded in
their national pride by tmforseen reverses, may raise a storm of
which nothing in her history up to this can giye an idea. To prevent
this catastn^he, it concerns her not to blind herself any longer as to
the nature and extent of her resources. Her military strength, and,
above all, the acquirements in military science of her generals &nd
officers, are evidently unequal to her mission. Her naval strenglJi
n^ybe;, if not surpassed, at least eqjiallQd, as it once was by ovr
own under Louis XIV. and Louis XVI., as it will again, if oui'

numei
from

Against them
are right in
ought to re-
'ho never saw
lias, and ad-
id this jndg*
tutice to the
er, believing,
planted else*
their science,
Bxterna) poli-
>ride without
' nations, and
ou know the
rhich w© are
le nation one

e cause which
ing to signa-
eloqnent the

in the aSsar
1 dose against

the keys at
Eiring on the

the Englidi
a* if a nation
ry part of the
ions such as
)d grace that
^rce and na-

mger.

by the im-
as with other
} spectacle of
lave created
It wiU be
int this ani-

Enghtnd in
suing either
wounded in

a storm of

To prevent
' longer as to
rength, and,
generals and
ral strengUi
was by olt
j^ain, if oux*

honour and our interest sliould require it. She confides too much
in the glory of her past, in the natural courage of her sons. Inas-
much as she is essentially warlike, she considers herself, wrongly, on
a level witti modern progress in the art of war, and in a position to
resist superiority in numbers, in discipline, and in camp experience.
Because in 1848 the bravest and best disciplined armies did not save
the great Continental monarchies from a sudden and shameful fall
before an internal enemy, she chooses to doubt that a good and
numerous army constitutes the condition of safety against an enemy
from without. For the very reason that she h free she believes, and
wrongly, that she has nothing to fear from the enemies of liberty.
No ! her institutions are not an impregnable bulwark, as Mr. Boe-
buck unreflectingly termed them on his return from Cherbourg.
AJas ! all experience of ancient and modem times proves that free
nations may succumb, like others, and even more rapidly than
others. Liberty is the most precious of treasures, but, like every
other treasure, it excites the envy, the covetousness, the hatred of
those men wh* -To not wish that others should possess an advantage
which they themselves have neither known nor wished to possess,
lake every other treasure — ^beauty, truth, virtue itself — ^liberiy
requires to be watched over and defended, with a tender solicitude
ana an indefatigable vigilance. All the inventions of which modem
science is so proud are as useful to despotism as to liberty, and even
more so. Electricity and steam will ever lend more force to strong
battalions than to good reasons.

By substituting mechanical contrivances for the mainspring of
morality, man's individual energy, the former invite and second the
establishment of the empire of might over right. This is what the
Mends of England and of liberty ought never to lose sight of.

47. England's incompa/rahle industrial geni/uSf and wonderful hene-
volent enterjiyrize.—Vive la Heine I God save the Queen !

This is not the only ground whereon one does not feel reassured
by the prodigies of that individual initiative, and of those sponta-
neous associations whose intrepid and inexhaustible energy makes
the streigth and the supreme glory of England. Everywhere else
^ the jBwer and wealth of autocracy must avow themselves van-
quired and eclipsed by that incomparable fecundity of private
industry, which in her, without having been either incited or aided
by tiie State, has hollowed out in the port of Liverpool floating docks
six times as vast as those of Cherbourg ; built up, on the site of the
Crystal Palace, the wonder of contemporary architecture ; fathomed
the sea, to deposit amid its depths the telegraphic cable, and thus
united the two great free peoples of the world by the language of
that electric spark whose first spoken words have wafted in an instant
across the abyss, and from one world to another, the hymn of joy of
the Angels at the bui;h of oui Saviour, * * Glory to God in the highest^
and on earth peace, good will toward men."

But it is not merely in the region of great industrial enterprise to-

68

attract thither every eye, and to wring testimonies of admiration
from the most imwilling mood, .that those wonders of free and per*
Bonal initiative manifest themselves. As for me, I feel myself much
more excited, and still more reassured, when I behold it at work in
the very bowels of society, in the obscure depths of daily life ; it is
there one should see it extend its roots and develop its vigorous
vegetation, in order to estimate correctly the value for the souls and
bodies of a people of the noble habit of providing for itself, for its
wants and its dangers.

M. de Montalembert concludes this remarkable pamphlet by
pointing out the happy result of benevolent establishments and
institutions for the instruction of the poorer classes, and citing the
example of the People's Park at Birmingham, he says : the little girl
of the charity school deposits her mite side by side with the bank
notes of the rich manufacturer. The sum required is soon collected,
the domain is purchased in the name of the new association, the old
mansion, carefully restored, is destined as a permanent exhibition of
the arts and manufactures of the district, and the great park, with
its trees, the growth of centuries, is transformed into a place of pro-
menade and recreation for the families of the working classes. Then,
but only then, and when it is necessary to inaugurate this happy
conquest of an intelligent and courageous initiative, they send their
request to the Queen ; for all these Uttle municipal republics set the
greatest importance on showing that royalty is the key-stone of the
arch.

All that great association, so proud and so sure of itself,^ knows
well that it has nothing to fear from that sovereign power which is
at once its graceful ornament and its faithful representative, and
which, in turn, has nothing to dread from the active spontandty of its
subjects ; which does not pretend to hinder any emancipation, any
development of individual independence ; which does not impose
submission on energy, nor silence on contradiction ; and which, in
truth, is no other than liberty wearin«» a crown. The 15th of June,
1858, the Queen obeys this touching appeal. She comes, and
600,000 working men hasten to meet her, issuing in myriads from
every industrious hive of the districts of the black country — ^that is,
from the Counties of Stafford and Warwick, where coal mines feed
the great mineral works. They offer her the affectionate homage of
their happy faces, of their free souls, and of their manly efforts for
aggrandizement and freedom. The Queen traverses that mighty
crowd of an enthusiastic population, and opens the new museum.
She bestows knighthood on the Mayor of Birmingham, elected by
his fellow citizens, by touching his shoulder with a sword, lent to
her for the purpose by the Lord-Lieutenant of the County. She
then causes to approach her the eight working men whom their
comrades had in(Ucated as the most usefully zealous in the common
work, and says to them, " I thank you personally for what you have
done to preserve this ancient manor, and I hope that this people's
pack will be for ever a benefit to the working classes of your city."

I adiniratioil
ree and per"
myself much
it at work in
ly life ; it is
its vigproiis
the 80^ and
itself, for its

pamphlet by
ishments and
id citing the
the little girl
ith the bank
oon coUected,
ition, the old
exhibition of
it park, with
, place of pro-
;lasses. Then,
16 this happy
ey send their
)ublics set the
-stone of the

itself^ knows
wer which is
entative, and
itaneity of its
Lcipation, any
s not impose
nd which, in
L5th of June,

comes, and
nyriads from
itry — ^that is,
il mines feed
te homage of
ly efforts for

that mighty
Lew museimi.
n, elected by
word, lent to
bounty. She

whom their

the common
dmt you have

this people's
I your city."

As she was leaving, 40,000 children of the free national schools, and
of various creeds, ranged along the way as she passed under the
great oaks which had perhaps seen Charles I. beneath them, and
they chanted together with an accent at once innocent and impas-
sioned, which drew tears from many of those who were present, a
hymn, in lines, rude perhaps, but the burden of which was —

" Now pray we for our country,

That England long may be,
The holy, and the happy,

And the glorioualy free."

A state prosecution of Montalembert followed the publication of
this brilliant Essay— of which we give an account in the following
pages.

A curious point of resemblance between the two NapoWons is,
perhaps, the attitude in which both Lave been seen with respect
to two of the most prominent men of letters of their time in France.
The persecution of Chateaubriand by NapoWon I. is duplicated in
the recent trial of Montalembert at the instance of NapoMon III.
Like Montalembert, Chateaubriand was, in the earlier years of Na-
poleon's reign, a supporter of his authority, and the resemblance is
still maintained in the circumstance that each believed himself to be
sustaining his own views in the person of his chosen sovereign. Cha-
teaubriand accepted a -i^iplomatic appointment in Italy, and Monta-
lembert used his powerful pen in the support of NapoMon III. But
^jhe continuance of such alliances as these is almost an impossibility ;
^nd both Chateaubriand and Montalembert gradually withdrew their
support. The murder of the Due d'Enghien in March, 1804, cut
short the connection of Chateaubriand with NapoMon I. ; the con-
fiscation of Orleans estates, in 1851, also, put an end to Montalem-
bert's sympathy for Napoleon III.

Events, it is frequently said, repeat themselves ; and precisely fifty
years after Chateaubriand was silenced, the Coimt de Montalembert
offends another Napoleon in a manner precisely similar, by wrap-

Eing up, in an article on a foreign country, the bitterest satires on
is Government. But NapoMon III. dares more than Napoleon I. ;
Chateaubriand was precluded only from writing, Montalembert is
subjected to a prosecution, vilified as a traitor to his country, and
visited with the utmost rigor of the despotic law.

THE TRIAL

OF

COUNT DE MONTALEMBERT,

POR A LIBEL ON THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT,

BK70KB THB

PAEIS COEEECTIONAL TEIBITNAL,

24:th of NovemheTf 1868.

i:..

Judges presiding at the Trial : M. Berthelin, President ; HM.
Laisvaux and Benoit, Judges of the First Instance ; M. Glaudas.
Judge substitute (jttge suppleant).

M. de Cordcen, Imperial Attorney (Procureur-ImperiaJ).

Long before twelve o'clock, the hoiu: named for the prosecution,
the Court-yard of the Palais de Justice showed signs of life. The
morning was bitterly cold ; a damp fog covered the atmosphere ; but
80 early as eight o'clock groups of well-dressed persons, including
several ladies, blocked up the doors of the Police Correotionelle, and
patiently awaited the hour of opening. It was half-past ten when
the outer doors were thrown open. Some had no tickets of admis-
sion, and trusted to chance to obtain an entrance. The ticket-
bearers were first admitted, but they had to wait another half hour
before the doors of the 6th Chamber, where the proceedings were
to be held, were opened. The Chamber, which is in the new build-
ings added to the Palais, is an oblong of limited extent, something
about the size of an ordinary drawing-room, and could not have been
intended to afford accommodation to a large number of persons. A
considerable portion is railed off for the members of the Bar ; and a
few rows of benches for persons admitted by ticket, and between the
barrier to the rear is a reduced standing room. Facing the entrance
is a raised platform, with fauteuils for the judges, and writing tables
before them ; and behind is a space where chairs or benches may be
plaoa for tha accommodation of members of the magistracy who
may not be on duty for the day. Immediately over the bench hangs
a large painting of the Crucifixion in a gilt frame. When a witness
takes the oath on his examination, he lifts his right hand and looks

ERT,

p,

[JISTAL,

if

dent ; MM.
VI. Glaudas.

lal),

prosecution,
f life. The
sphere ; but
s, including
tionelle, and
t ten when
a of admis-
The tioket-
T half hour
edinga were
) new build-
, something
)t have been
}ersons. A
Bar ; anda
between the
;he entrance
riting tables
hes may be
istracy who
)ench hangs
in a witness
I and looks

71

at the picture, or at a crucifix, while repeating the words "Lejure."
Nearly on the same line with the picture, but on the wall to the
right of the bench, is a bust of the Emperor, and close to it a clock.
On the right also are three doors, which give access to the members
of the Bar, who must present themselves in caps (a high round black
one) and govm. The caps of the Judges are distinguished by a
silver or gold band, according to their rank. Right opposite the
bench is the principal entrance, which was guarded by sergena de
vUU, who are usually civil and attentive. The Chamber is lighted
by three windows to the left of the bench, with movable panes at the
top to admit the air. The raised bench of the Procureur-Imperiad is
to the left of the Judges.

In a very short time after the door was thrown open the Chamber
was filled. One of the earliest to enter, and take his seat in front
of the bench, was M. OdiUon Barrot. His appearance excited some
attention. The presence of another celebrity, M. Villemain, and
the Duke de Broglie, attracted still greater attention. About half-
past 11 M. Dttfaure, the counsel for the publisher of the CorreS'
pondantf entered, and took his place by his client. As time passed
on the eyes of all were fixed on the door by which the principal per-
sonages of the day were to enter. A few minutes before 12 a buzz
was heard in that direction ; the barristers and others who had
blocked up the door were seen to look in one direction, and sudden-
ly to clear the passage. M. Berryer, arrayed in full forensic cos-
tume, entered ; he was followed by lus illustrious client. Though
still robust and apparently in good health, yet every one remarked
the change which the last few years had wrought in M. Berryer's
features. As those two distinguished men moved towards the spot
where they were to take their'^places they returned the salutations of
their friends, and for some time a constant buzz was kept up in the
hall. Precisely at five minutes past 12 the ringing of a bell
announced that the Judges were approaching. An usher of the
court threw open the folding doors to the rear of the bench, and
announced in a loud voice their presence. There were four of them,
viz., M. Berthelin, the President; MM. Laisvaux and Benoit,
Ju(^es of the Tribunal of the First Instance ; and M. Glandaz, a
supernumerary or apprentice Judge {juge suppleant) besides the
Procureur-Imp^^l and his substitute. When the Judges made
their appearance the Bar and audience rose, uncovered, and remain-
ed standing until they took their seats. On the bench there were
a large array of Judges, of different courts, and among them M.
Benoit Chamfy, the President of the Tribunal of the First Instance.
Seven or eight members of the corps diplomatique sate on privileged
seats under the bench. The disappointment among the many
grandes dames of the Faubourg St. Germain who had asked for ,
tickets must have been immense. There were very few ladies in
court. I observed the Countess de Montalembert, with one of her
daughters and a friend, and Madame Arthur Berryer. There were
not more than four or five other ladies and two priests in Court.
The proceedings commenced by M. President Berthelin warning the
auditory that no marks of approbation would be permitted — a warn-

72

ing which, as the sequel proved, was not attended to. The Presi-
dent then announced that the Court was opened, and invited the
Bar and the public to be seated. A cause was called, but was
announced to be postponed d huitaine — that is, for eight days.

The name of Charles Douniol, the publisher of the Vorrespondant,
was then called. He rose and presented himself at the bar. He
was asked in the usual form his name, age, place of birth, profession,
ifec. To the question whether he admitted the publication of the
article as gSrant or director of the Correapondant, he replied that he
had no knowledge that it contained any guilty matter ; that he had
acted with perfect honesty ; and that the article was passed as usual
by the Secretary of the Redaction. Some other questions of a
similar kind were asked, and he was then desired to sit down. The
President, after intimating to the audience that any sign of appro-
bation or disapprobation would be at once repressed, and that any
o le detected in violating the order would be taken into custody and
punished for contempt of Court, called upon M. de Montalembert
to stand up. In the midst of the deepest silence, he did so, standing
by his counsel, and his hand reposing on the desk, on which were
laid some papers and a number of the Correspondant containing the
incriminated article. The President said, "What is your name?"
<< Charles Count de Montalembert." "What age?" "Forty-
eight." " What is your profession ?" "Former Peer of France."
"Where were you born?" "In Paris." "Do you admit the
authorship of the article entitled Un Debat sur VInde au Parlement
Anglais?'' "I do. I admit the authorship, and assimie all the
responsibility of it."

He was then examined as to the meaning of the passages alleged
to be libellous, and which I have already given. He was asked
whether he did not mean to describe as the Imperial Government
"the chronicles of ante-chambers, the atmosphere charged with ser-
vile and corrupt miasmata," and whether he did not mean by saying
that he went " to breathe an air more pure, and take a life bath in
free England," as an attack on the institutions of his country. M.
de Montalembert said he meant no attack in the sense implied by
the law ; he merely stated certain facts, and it could be only by
misinterpretation that such meaning could be attached to it. He
was asked whether in the passage where he said " h»didnot pretend
to convert those progressive spirits who regard Parliamentary Gov-
ernment as advantageously replaced by universal suffrage, nor the
political optimists who profess that the supreme victory of Demo-
cracy consists in abdicating in the hands of a Monarch the exclusive
direction of the foreign and domestic affairs of the country," and
that " he wrote for his own satisfaction, and that of a small number
of invalids, of the curious, and, if you wish, of maniacs," he did not
mean an attack on universal suffrage, and on the rights the Emperor
held from the Constitution. M. de Montalembert declared that his
meaning was quite clear ; he meant merely what he said — that he
did not want to convert " men of progress," who differed from him
— and thos^ who thought with him ; he merely stated a fact, and
nothing mo^e.

e

The Presi-

invited the
d, but was
b days.
respondantf
bar. He

profession,
irtion of the
»lied that he
that he had
sed as usual
tstions of a
iown. The
n of appro-
id that any
custody and
ontalembert
so, standing
which were
ataining the
our name ?"
' " Forty-
of France."

admit the
f Parlement
lume all the

sages alleged
i was asked
Grovemment
jed with ser-
ui by saying
life bath in
tuntry. M.
implied by
be only by
[ to it. He
not pretend
jntary Gov-
ge, nor the
r of Demo-
he exclusive
mtry," and
aall number
' he did not
tie Emperor
red that his
d — that he
d from him
a fact, and

79

He was asked whether he did not mean to af&rm that France had
lost her freedom, when he says that " In (JJanada a noble French and
Catholic race of people, unfortunately torn from our country, but
remaining French in heart and in manners, owes to England the
preservation or the acquisition, with entire religious liberty, of all
the political and municipal liberties which France had repudiated,"
&c. He said he simply stated an historical fact, with which every
one was acquainted, and which no one could deny. There could be
no doubt that when the colony belonged to France, France did
possess certain political and municipal institutions which she
possesses no longer, but which are still maintained in Canada.
Surely there was no attack on the Imperial Government by saying
that it was France herself who repudiated those institutions !

In answer to one question put, he distinctly said, "Yes, I do
esteem the political institutions of England preferable to those by
which France is at present ruled ;" and on another occasion he re-

Elied, " I did, and do, mean to say that I admire the freedom Eng-
ind enjoys, and regret that France no longer enjoys it also." At
this he tvas stopped by the President, and told he was repeating the
offence for which he was then being tried. He bowed, and said,
**I cannot state facts other than they are."

He was asked whether he did not mean an attack on the laws, by
saying " We have not only the habits but even the instincts of these
wise and prudent people, who are eternally minors, who permit
themselves occasionally frightful irregularities, but who fall again
into civic impotence, where no one speaks but by permission, with
the salutary terror of an avertissement if he ventures ever so little
to censure the ideas of the Government or of the mob." He said,
that he simply stated the fact that avertissements were given by
authority in the cases alluded to. He was asked a few more ques-
tions to the same purport, and then was allowed to resimie his seat.

As he sate down what was thought to be a mark of approbation
was heard from some one near the door ; it was very slight, for ex-
cept in the immediate vicinity very few heard it. The President
repeated rather sternly his order, and declared that to maintain
silence and decorum in the assembly the power at the disposal of the
CSomrt, would, if necssary, be employed.

You cannot conceive anything more admirable than the attitude of
M. de Montalembert during his interrogatory. It was quietness
and calmness itself, with that touch of irony that is so peculiar to
him, and with a studied politeness to the Bench that evidently em-
barrassed his questioners.

T^e President then called on the Procuremr-Imperial to open for
the prosecution. That functionary's reply, which did not last more
than a quarter of an hour, was even less effective than his opening
speech. He scarcely touched the specific charges of the prosecution
or the powerful answer that had been made to them. He reiterated
his assertion that French institutions were better than English ones,
and that it was anti-French to say the contrary. He taunted M. de
Montalembert with having formally voted for shutting up the Paris
cliibs, and asked whether his admiration for England led him to ap-

74

prove of English political meetings — ^institutions to which the Eng-
lish people were more attached tiian any other. He cited as instances
of the immense danger of such meetings, some of the rhodomontade
which " discussion K>rum" men sometuues indulge in, and which in
England excites no attention whatever. He fastened upon an ex-
pression of M. de Montalembert, cautioning England against over-
confidence in her own strength, and advising her to keep up a naval
and military force proportionea to the large forces of despotism, and
founded upon it the charge that M. de Montalembert wished to see
a war, and would take part with England against his own country.
He declared that M. Montalembert was " not a Frenchman !" that
he was not a " patriot !" ibc. ''You have cast France down at
England's feet," he exclaimed. " and there, there — ^you have struck
her in the face ! Your work is an impious one !"

Here the Procureiur drew a sketch of the political state of England
at the period of Count de Montalembert's visit. He described at
great length the various episodes of the siege of Lucknow, and ren-
dered full justice to the courage of the 800 Englishmen and 200
Englishwomen who contended for four months against the united
efforts of 100,000 barbarians. He then analyzed the article prose-
cuted, and contended that certain passages violated the law. He
concluded by saying that in point of freedom the institutions of
France feared no comparison with those of England.

Maitre Berryer — " Maitre " is the designation of the Jurisconsult
in Court, and not ** Monsieur" — ^Maitre Berryer was then called on
for the defence. You are probably aware that in France M. Berryer
has long been considered by most people as one of the greatest of
French orators since the time of Miraoeau. In person he is rather
under than over the middle size, but his features are full of expe-
rience, and reflect all the fire and passion which biun within him.
There is something fascinating in his glance ; and the look with
which he surveyed the Procureur, seated on his lofty bench, as he
entered the Court, after a few minutes' absence, seemed to take the
measure of that functionary's intellect. His whole person is elo-
quent. The effect of M. Berryer's impassioned rhetoric cannot be
given by the most skilful short-hand writer, for its force lies in
tiiose qualil lBS which cannot be transferred to paper. Who can give
the exquisite intonations of that rich and melodious voice, or the
graceful energy of his action ? That action and that voice are never
BO much displayed as in the fire of his declamation. Other orators
may be interrupted by the applause of their hearers, but M. Berryer
is listened to with almost breathless silence, as if they feared to lose
even one note of that deep voice, or miss one single wave of that
aarm. His voice is heard distinctly, whether it be low or high ; and
when it ceases, you long to hear it again, and hesitate by the slight-
est movement to break the spell. The variety of his intonations
cannot be surpassed, whether his words are simple and familiar, bold,
Or rich with ornament. In sarcasm he is powerful, and his person
swells under interruption. During his speech yesterday, when
alluding to '' official or non-official gag" on the press, he was stopped
by the President, who thought proper to remind huu that the re-

the Eag-

instanoes
omontade

which in
on an ex-
inst over*
ip a naval
>ti8m, and
ed to Bee

country,
an !" that

down at
.ve struck

England
scribed at
and ren-
and200
le united
cle prose-
law. He
utions of

[isconsult
called on
. Benyer
reatest of
is rather
of expe-
thin him.
3ok with
3h, as he
take the
>n is olo-
annot be
;e lies in

> can^ve
3, or the
are never
r orators
. Benyer
id to lose

> of that
igh; and
le slight-
k>nation8
iar, bold,
s person
y, when
s stopped

i the re>

75

nown he had won at the French bar was won by his defence of the
laws; that the ''warnings" given to the press from time to time
were authorized by the law, an attack on which he would not tole-
rate, as it was a repetition of the offence they wore at that moment
prosecuting. M. Berryer effected his object in an indirect but far
more forcible manner. He went over the charges one by one against
his client, and scouted the notion that a mere statement of facts
which were matter of history, the admiration of the institutions of
another countiy, though not the same which existed in his own,
could be tortured by any perversion of ingenuity into an attack on
the Imperial Government of France. He read the incriminated
passages one after another, and completelv swept away the flimsy
reasoning of the Procureur. He described the prosecution as '' un-
just, unfounded, ill-advised, and — he was going to say rash." He
desired to accept the proposition of the Procureur-Imperial, that M.
de Montalembert's article must be judged of as a whole, and not
from miserable details, and the strained interpretation of here and
there a strong expression dropped from the pen of a vivacious writer.
The spirit of the article was not an attack upon anything French,
but a genuine admiration of English free institutions, produced by
hearing a splendid debate in the English Parliament on one of the
grandest questions which ever occupied a deliberative assembly. He
here pronoimced a most eloquent eulogimn on the conduct of the
English Parliament and nation on the occasion of Lord Ellen-
borough's resignation on account of his answer to Lord Canning's
despatch ; and said that M. de Montalembert, who at twenty-one
had made a brilliant defence of himself in the Chamber of Peers for
having founded a free school with Abbd Lacordaire — M. de Monta-
lembert, whose whole life had been passed in Parliamentary strug-
gles for religion and liberty, as he understood them, must naturally
look back with regret to institutions which France had but very re-
cently lost. On M. Berryer saying that to affirm that France did
not now possess liberty was not an attack upon the Government,
but merely the assertion of a notorious and undeniable fact, he was
interrupted by —

The president, who said : Maitre Berryer, the defence is free, aa
you have seen ; but you are now going too far ; you are repeating
at the bar the very offence with which M. de Montalembert stands
charged ; and that cannot be permitted.

M. Benyer, with a gesture of eloquent astonishment, continued
*— "Must I then throw up my brief ? Have I lost my reason and
conscience ? Do I understand what the Court means ? Can it be
that a counsel is to be construed as attacking the Government be-
cause he will not say that black is white ? Why, it is the boast of
the Government that it has bartered liberty for order — ^and it has
done so it says, with the consent of the French people ; and that I
am not here to deny. Yes, France has repudiated her own liberty.
That is a fact which some people may and others may not regret ;
but it is not rational to hold it an offence in any one to state the
simple fact that liberty does not now exist." He went over the
early history of his noble client, his eloquence as a writer and an

76

onrfcor, his high character free from the slightest stain, his consi»*
tency, his dcvotednoss to his principles, his unshaken iidulity to the
cause of religion and of freedom, his great talents as a public man,
which, even without the advantages he possessed of noble birth and
ancient lineage, would alone have won him distinction among the
most eminent of hin contemporaries. M. de Montalombert did not
calumniate liis country, for he declared that France could support
liberal institutions as well as England ; but it was when he came to
tlie passiigo of the article where ho observes that "every man who
sees in a Goveniment something else than an antechamber," Ac,
tliat M. Berryer wjis overwhelming. It did not follow from thia
passage that M. de Montalembert meant that the Imperial Govern-
ment was an antechamber ; it referred only to those men who, under
every reyime, under every form of government, no matter who was
King, President, or head of an Empire, were ready with their
fulsome adulation to every one in authority — protesting fidelity to
them to-day, and, when fallen, trampling on them ; and offering on
the morrow the same nauseous incense to those who overthrew
them. Such men were to be seen in the antechamber of every King
and every Minister. They were seen in those of Louis XVIII., in
those of Charles X. , in those of Louis Phillippe, and those of the
Republic. They were ready to insult those they formerly bowed
down before, and to bow down before those they formerly insulted.
Such men belonged to no particular rSgime — they infected all alike ;
tlieir only principle was base self-interest. They were ever the
same men, the same faces, and were to be found at all times. As
M. Berryer hurled his withering sarcasm in tones that made the
walls ring again, with Hashing glance and arm lifted high above his
head, a thrill ran through the hall, and all involuntarily acknow-
ledged the irresistable charm of the orator's eye, voice, and action.
The looks of pome were directed to one comer of the hall, where it
was supposed one or two were sitting, who, perhaps felt the lash,
and who seemed to shrink from the glance of the speaker. M.
Berryer said : —

" However powerful the effect which would hav e been produced on the
Court by the frank and eloquent laDS^uage of the Count de Montalembert,
delivered with that good sense for which he is so distinguished, and al-
though r)oboiiy could so well explain to you, gentlemen, the consistency of
his opinions, we would not permit him to undertake the task, as he could
not speak of himself in the terms in which he ought to be spoken of. It
is for us to fulfil this duty; it is for us who have been mixed up (melie)
with him in the great agitation and the great scenes of political life; for
U9, who in different camps, on opposite benches, have sometimes not been
able to agree as to the course to pursue, but who holtl it an honour to de-
clare that on all occasions, as well as to-day, we have desired to maintain
the fundamental principles of order and liberty, of which he was the elo-
quent defender. Yes, in the midst of political terrors, we wern fully united.
We had the same feelings — to save society, but save liberty likewise— and
it is with the 3ame mutto, the same battle-ory, that I come to repel an un«
just, unfounded, imprudent and ill-timed accusation — I was going to add
rash. It will be an easy task for me, gentlemen, to lead you to the fulfil-
ment of your duty, as I shall endeavour to perform mine. We need not

77

us conBi»*
lity to the
iblio man,
birth and
niong the
rt did not
i support

0 came to
man who

t>er," (fee,
from this

1 Govem-
ho, under
[• who was
rith their
idelity to
fforing on
)verthrew
rery King
VIII., in
'se of the
•ly bowed

insulted,
all alike ;
ever the
mes. As
made the
ftbove his
' acknow-
id aclion.
where it
the lash,
ker. M.

:cd on the
taletnbert,
i, and al-
jiateney of
I he could
in of. It
ip (melSe)
I life; for
not been
>ur to de-
maintain
s the elo-
lly xmited.
vhe — and
pel an un«
□g to add
the fulfil-
need not

fear that, during this trial, the first, you are told, thnt has occurrfid during
tLe Empire, that any couHideratiun could induce you to forget the sanctity
and independt'iico of the majesty of justice which is entrnated to you. The
publication of M. de Montulembert, A Debate upon luJia in the JJritiah
i'(lr/tamen^ is the object of a prosecution, talicu nltogethor in \in details.
Assuredly, when it is intended to try a work bo exiindvd and of eo serious
a oharaotur, we ithould not stop at a single word or a detached phrase,
that may be misinterpreted, altered, disfigured and cxnirgeratcd— it should
bo taken altogether. To judge of a work, it is not PufRctcnt to place your*
self in the point of view of the prosecution, you muot try the man him*
self, his principles, and his life. That life has been engaged iu every
struggle duriug thirty yearii, and that life has been exposed to the gaze of
all. He was etill young when France, escaped (rom the Bufferings and
disgrace which the three tyrannies of the Convention, the Directory, and
the Empire had inflicted on her, and was resting under a constitutional
monarchy — a Government strong and free."

M. Berryor then recounted the early life of M. Montolembert, his
progress in the noble cause he enterea upon, and tlie eervice he ren-
dered to his country ; he enlarged on his grout talents, which he
admired, and his character, which he ever did justice too even when
sitting on the benches of the Opposition. M. JBerryer's speech
lasted for two hours, and seldom did two hours appear shorter.
"When he sat down a burst of applause rose in the more distant part
of the hall ; it was rapidly extending to the whole audience, but was
at once checked by the Court. The burst, I believe, was involun-
tary. The President again delivered a severe reprimand, and de-
clared that on tho next manifestation of the kind he should order
the expulsion of the whole of the audience from the Court.

M. Duf aure then stood up on behalf of his client, the Director of
the Correapondant Nothing could well be more different in charac-
ter from the magnificent declamation of M. Berryer than the speech
of M. Dufaure. It was not ablaze of eloquence, which overpowered
the understandings of the hearers, but it was a force of reasoning
which convinced them. The most impassioned bursts of M. Berryer
were like charges of cavalry ; the sustained logic of M. Dufaure was
like the steady action of infantiy, moving with unbroken front and
uninterrupted progress. The fluency of M. Dufaure is marvellous.
In the same quiet voice, one tone seldom higher than another, his
language flows out without a moment's hesitation or impediment.
He unfolds all the complications of the question in a manner so able
as to bring conviction to the meanest capacity ; his powers as a
reasoner are first-rate. His irony, though not so brilliant as M.
Berryer'iB, goes far below the skin. He was once interrupted by the
Procureur with reference to the fourth count, which was abandoned,
ftnd M. Dufaure despatched his interrupter in a moment. He fre-
quently trod on as perilous ground as M. Berryer, but he managed
so adroitly that he was not, I think, once interfered with by the
Bench. The charge against M. de Montalembert for having said
that the English managed their own affairs, and were not obliged to
put themselves under the tutelage of a single man, was met by M.
I)ufaure reading a passage from the speedi of Prince Napoleon, at
Limoges, in May h^t, in which his Imperial Highness used the very

78

It

same expression with reference to the system of centralization. He
also produced great effect by reading the famous letter of Savary,
Buke of Rovigo, to Madame de Stael, intimating that the air of
Paris must be extremely hurtful to her health, and that she would
find a residence out of France most beneficial to her ; in fact,
banishing her from the French territory, not for what she said, but
for what she did not say. He also read a passage from Montesquieu
narrating that, when receiving the hospitality of a foreign country,
he felt a peculiar interest in and regard for the people and institu-
tions of that country. M. de Montalembert had been actuated by
the same sentiment when in England. M. Dufaure completely
demolished the allegations against his client, and treated with the
keenest irony the arguments of the Procureur. His speech, which
was admitted to be a master piece of forensic reasoning, was con-
cluded at six o'clock.

The speeches of MM. Berryer and Defaure were magnificent be-
yond description. To have heard them is an event in a life. Berryer
spoke for two hours and a half ; when he sat down, M. Villemain
approached him, squeezed his hand, and said, ''You never made a
more splendid speech in your life, either at the bar or the tribune."
Among the remarkable men present were M. Odillon Barrot and
the Duke de Broglio, and seven or eight members of the Corps
Diplomatique. M. Chaise d'Est Ange, the Procureur-General Im-
perial, sat behind one of the Judges' chairs, looking like a . chained
tiger disappointed of a rush at his prey. Etiquette does not allow
him tc speak except in the upper or "Imperial Court," and he was
forced to leave the conduct of the prosecution with his inferior
officer, M. le Procureur-Imperial Cordouen. The latter performed
his duty with a modesty becoming his very moderate abilities. Be-
arding the trial from an artistical point of view, the Bar regretted
taat the Procureur-Imperial was so tremendously overmatched.
Gould C. d'Est Ange have egpoken, the arms of the combatants would
have been more nearly on an equality. The Procureur-Imperial
told M. de Montalembert that he had thrown France prostrate at
the feet of England and struck her on the face. This he repeated
three times. "Vous I'avez frapp^ au visage, frappe au visage,
indignement frapp^ au visage." Berryer said that the prosecution
was " unjust, unfounded, iU-advised, and he would add rash." The
Procureur-Imperial did not say anything oflFensive to England. M.
Dufaure's logical style of argument was perliaps never shown to
more advantage. Berryer, who spoke :Grst, melted the hearts of
his hearers, and then Dufaure convinced their reason.

At a quarter past six the Judges retired to deliberate. They re-
mained in deliberation one hour and five minutes, and at twenty
minutes past seven, the President having previously ordered in four
sergens de viUe to prevent any sign of approbation or the contrary,
and to take into instant custody any one offending in that way, read
the judgment of the Court, which is given in extemo in the Qazette
des TrUmrtaux. It is as follows :—

79

ation. He
of Savary,

the air of
t she would

; in fact,
e said, but
[ontesquieu
;n. country,
nd institur
ictuated by
completely
id with the
ech, which
g, was con-

nificent be-
fe. Berryer
Villemain
ver made a
e tribune."
Barrot and
the Corps
reneral Im-
) a chained
1 not allow
md he was
his inferior
performed
ities. Re-
regretted
ermatched.
lants would
ir-Imperial
rostrate at
repeated
au visage,
)rosecution
ash." The
:land. M.
shown to
hearts of

They re-
at tweniy
:ed in four

contrary,

; way, read

Oaaette

« PARIS COHRECTIONAL TRIBUNAL, Novembee 24.
" President — M. Bkrthkliw.

" The Count de MoNTALEMDEnT and M, Douniol Editor of the Corres-

pondant Revue.)

*' Count de Montalembert and M. Douniol, Editor of the Corresjondant
Hevue, appeared to-day before the Tribunal, accused of having committed,
by publishing or causing to be published in the Corre»pondant, under the
date of the 25th October, an article entitled, A Debate on India in the
jSnalith Parliament, the four following offences: — 1. Excitement to hatred
and contempt of the Emperor's Government. 2. Attack aiarainst the res-
pect due to the laws. 8. Attack against the rights and authority which
the Emperor holds from the Constitution and the principle of universal
suffrage. 4. Having endeavoured to trouble the public peace by exciting
the contempt or hatred of citizens against each other. All being offences
foreseen by the Decrees of the 11th of August, 1848, and the law of the
27thof July, 1P49.

•* The Imperial Attorney-General, M. de Cordoen, pressed the prosecu-
tioa on the first three counts, and abandoned the fourth.

" M. Berryer defended the Count de Montalembert, and M. Dufaure M.
Douniol.

*' The Court, after deliberating in the Council Chamber, gave judgment
as follows : —

" Whereas, in the review entitled the CorrespoHdant, an article appeared
on the 25th October, headed A Debate on India in the Englinh Parliament,
whereas Count de Montalembert acknowledges himself to be the author of
that article, and authorised its publication, and Douniol admits the publi-
cation ; whereas, in the course of that article, written in a systematical
spirit of disparagement, the author, by the continual contrast which he
ODOOses to draw between the institutions which France has bestowed upon
herself and those of a Power in alliance with France, takes pains to pour
out irony and insult on the political laws, the men and acts of the Govern-
ment; that three offences — I. The offence of exciting to hatred and con-
tempt of Government ; 2. The offence of an attack against the principle
of universal suffrage, and the rights and authority which the Head of the
State holds from the Constitution ; and, 8. The offence of an attack against
the respect due to the laws and to the inviolability of rights which they
have consecrated— arise from the entire tenor of the said article, and
particularly of the passages commencing with these words — ' When my
ears tingle,' [see page 16 of this pamphlet]; 'I grant,' p. 16; 'Id
Canada,' p. 19 ; * We possess not only, p. 24 ; J was for my part.' p. ;
* In a word, moral force,' p. 61 ; * While these reflections,' p. 61 ; '1 have
already shown,' p. 65.

« < As regards the fourth offence imputed to the accused ; whereas,
although expressions are found in the passages objected to which should
not have been expressed by the pen of a writer who respects himself, and
although those expressions have a tendency to sow disunion and agitation
emong the citizens, they do not sufficiently manifest, on the part of the
author, an intention to trouble the public peace, and this last offence is not
completely proved ;

" • Whereas the Count de Montalembert and Douniol have been found

guilty of the three offences above charged against them, offences provided

against and punished by articles 1 and 4 of the decree of the 11th August,

1848, articles 1 and 8 of the law of the 27th July, 1849 :

" ' Whereas, lo case of conviction under sereral heads, the highest pen-

fC

80

alty ouf;bt alone to be applied ; that the heaviest penalty is declared by
Article I. of the law of the 27th of July, 1849 ; that that Article, which has
for its end to protect, against culpable attacks, the head of the State issue
of universal suffrage, has not been repealed ;

" ' Applying the said article to the accused,

"' Whereas, in the case of Douniol, extenuating circumstances exist;
and whereas, the provisions of Article 463 of the Penal Code are, in the
terms of the Decree of the 11th of August, 1848, applicable to the offences
of the press ;

" 'Considering Article 463,

" * Condemns the Count de Montalembert to six months imprisonment
and a fine of S.OOOf. ; Douniol to one month's imprisonment and a fine of
l.OOOf. ; declares that they will be held jointly liable for the said fines ;
acquits them on the remainder of the accusation * condemns them jointly to
pay the costs; and fixes at 12 months the period of imprisonment for debt
in default.' »

The proceedings were announced to be at an end ; the Judges and
Procureur quitted the Court, and the audience separated. A group
was in the street, curious to see M. de Montalembert, who returned
home on foot, and the numerous police retired.

The Moniteur of the 29th of November, having intimated that it
was the intention of the Emperor Louis Napoleon to remit the sen-
tence of the Court, Count de Montalembert at once addressed the
following letter to the Editor of that paper :

'* M. LE Rkdagteur, — The Moniteur of this morning contains in its on'
ofHcial part a piece of news which I learn on reading that paper. It is
to this effect : —

" • H JL the Emperor, on the occasion of the anniversary of the 2nd of
December, has remitted, in favour of Count de Montalembert, the penalty
pronounced aguiust hira.'

" Condemned on the 24th of November, I have appealed, within the
term allowed by the law, against the sentence pronounced against me.

" No Government in France has had, up to the present, the right to re-
mit a penalty which Is not definitive.

" I am of those who still believe in right, and who do not accept a favor.

" I pray you, and if need be, require you, to be good enougu to insert
this letter in your next number.

" Ch. db Montalembebt."

tBiniiii.rii >

TOBONTO :
^Bll^TBlS B^ lOVilUi ABS aiBSOK, tOBaB »TaiBt,tt

s declared by
cle, whiuh has
le State issue

itances exist;
Je are, in the
totheofifences

imprisonmeDt
and a fine of
he said fines ;
3em jointly to
oaent for debt

I Judges and
i. A group
^ho returned

dated that it
mit the sen-
idressed the

3,ins in its tm*
paper. It is

of the 2nd of
), the penalty

i, within the
iinst me.
e right to re-

:cept a favor.
>ugn to insert

iLEMBEAT."